Country: Tunisia
Coach: Denis Lathoud
Key Players: Oussama Boughanmi (Left Wing), Marouen Maggaiz (Goalkeeper), Youssef Benali (Line Player)
Road to Qualification: Winners of the 2016 African Handball Super Cup
History in Tournament: 1997-2013: DNP, 2014: 5th, 2015: DNP
Overview:
Not many handball teams in the world have won 30 domestic league titles – the Tunisian club Esperance Sportive de Tunis is one of those incredible cases. They also claimed the Tunisia Handball Cup 25 times and were gold medallists at the 2013 African Club Handball Champions League and the African Club Handball Super Cup in 2014 and 2016.
Esperance’s close win over Zamalek Sports Club (EGY) 33:32 in the 2016 African Handball Super Cup signified their second qualification for the IHF Super Globe. Their only participation until now was in 2014, when they placed 5th after defeating Esporte Clube Taubate.
The French-born coach Denis Lathoud has been training Esperance Sportive since December 2015 and his professional career will see a major opportunity to take off in this edition of the Super Globe. In the quarter-finals his side will face Paris Saint-Germain, a powerful team for which he played as a left back between 1994 and 1996.
Probably the most valuable player for Esperance Sportive is the 26-year old left wing Oussama Boughanmi, who scored 24 goals for Tunisia at the Rio 2016 Olympics and 22 in the last World Championship in Qatar. He was also part of the team that made it to the quarter-finals at London 2012, as well as his club teammates Marouen Maggaiz, Marouen Chouiref and Kamel Alouini. Maggaiz is a 33-year old goalkeeper who recorded a 33% overall save rate in Rio, line player Chouiref ended the 2016 Olympics with 13 goals while centre back Kamel Alouini was out of the squad in Brazil but took part in the Qatar 2015 World Championship.
Tunisian-born line player Youssef Benali is another main player for Lathoud’s team. He was a silver medallist representing Qatar in the World Championship last year, contributing 17 goals.