Coach: Antonio Gerona

 

Key Players: Amine Bannour (Right back), Makrem Missaoui (Goalkeeper), Skander Zaied (Left back)

 

Qualification Information: 2018 Men’s African Championship – Winners

 

History in Tournament: 1954-1964: DNQ, 1967: 15th, 1970-1993: DNQ, 1995: 15th, 1997: 16th, 1999: 12th, 2001: 10th, 2003: 14th, 2005: 4th, 2007: 11th, 2009: 17th, 2011: 20th, 2013: 11th, 2015: 15th, 2017: 19th

 

With 20 goals for Montpellier HB in their EHF Champions League winning campaign last season Tunisia’s left back and playmaker Mohamed Soussi carries the hopes of the North African nation on his shoulders at Germany/Denmark 2019, a burden also carried by handball legend Wael Jallouz, the Barca Lassa player, now on loan at Füchse Berlin.

 

Along with Soussi, Mosbah Sanai is also one to watch with the Chambery Savoie Mont Blanc Handball left back also a threat, just like former Chambery right back Amine Bannour, who joined EHF Champions League side Dinamo Bucuresti this season and who already scored 17 goals in his first three games of the elite league. He is backed up at both club and international level by teammate and goalkeeper, Makrem Missaoui.

 

Bringing up the youth is the deadly Skander Zaied, who made such an impression at the 2017 Junior World Championship in Algeria, where he finished as the tournament top-scorer, after making his senior international bow as a 19-year-old at France 2017 a few months earlier where he played for just 10 minutes and scored one goal.

 

France was to prove to be a poor show for Tunisia, under former coach Hafedh Zouabi, as they finished 19th their second-worst finish in 13 editions which came after they were eliminated in the preliminary round by Iceland.

 

“Our target is to be in the main round, but with the new competition system it will be really hard to get there,” said Tunisia coach Antonio Gerona ahead of the championship. “For us to get there means we have the possibility to play matches against the best teams, and to get experience like this will improve our level. We have a strong group with Denmark and Norway favourites in it,” said Gerona. “The other teams will be fighting for third place to get the ticket through.”

 

Spaniard Gerona took over the Tunisia head coach role in July 2017 and the 45-year-old has led his team to a number of titles already, including winning the 2018 African Championship in Gabon. Gerona’s side beat constant rivals Egypt 26:24 to claim the title, which came as a relief after they had lost their two previous finals, in 2014, against Algeria and in 2016, against Egypt. By making the final, they already sealed their place at Germany/Denmark 2019. The title was won with the team missing top stars including Jallouz and Boughanmi.

 

Gerona, who never played handball professionally, made his step – and name – into the coaching world with the younger teams of FC Barcelona before taking over as head coach of the Barcelona B team.

 

As part of their preparations for 2019, Gerona took Tunisia to his homeland, Spain, with two friendly matches in the national teams week. Following some training camps the squad left to Europe where they compete in the Yellow Cup in Winterthur (Switzerland), against Japan, Portugal and the host nation.

 

Follow Tunisia at Germany/Denmark 2019 through their website, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.

 

Group at Germany/Denmark 2019

Group C: Denmark, Norway, Austria, Tunisia, Chile, Saudi Arabia

 

Games at Germany/Denmark 2019

All times local

 

Friday 11 January            Tunisia vs Norway

Saturday 12 January       Denmark vs Tunisia

Monday 14 January        Tunisia vs Chile

Tuesday 15 January        Saudi Arabia vs Tunisia

Thursday 17 January       Austria vs Tunisia

 

IHF & Germany/Denmark 2019 Official Channels

Follow the 2019 IHF Men’s Handball World Championship on our website as well as on our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. And make sure you don’t miss anything on the World Championship’s official Facebook and Instagram channels.

 

Photo: Tunisian Handball Federation