Tunisia- The Tunisia national team qualified for the 2026 World Cup for the seventh time in its history and the third in a row, emerging from a difficult period in 2024, the year in which it was eliminated from the first round of the African Cup of Nations in Côte d’Ivoire, and qualified with difficulty for the next edition of the tournament (Morocco 2025).
The Carthage Eagles team succeeded in achieving world records in the qualifying stage, as it became the first team in the history of the World Cup to finish the qualifiers without conceding goals in 10 matches.
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Zubair Biya is considered one of the legends of the Tunisian national team, as he was strongly present in the “Eagles of Carthage” qualification for the 1998 World Cup in France after an absence of 20 years until that time. Four years later, Biya was active in qualifying for the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan.
The former Etoile du Sahel captain participated in the 1998 and 2002 World Cup finals. He also played 83 international matches with the Tunisia national team, scoring 17 goals, and participated in the African Cup of Nations 4 times in 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2002.
In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, Zubair Beyya, who has been president of Etoile du Sahel since the summer of 2024, spoke about the current reality of Tunisian football and his country’s qualification for the World Cup for the seventh time in the tournament’s history, in addition to talking about the factors of success and the qualification of 7 Arab teams for the next edition.
Below is the text of the interview:
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The Tunisian national team’s qualification for the World Cup was not a unique event, but it came after a difficult stage that witnessed disappointing results in 2024. How do you read the Carthage Eagles’ march in the World Cup qualifiers?
I believe that the turning point in the path of the Tunisian national team was the election of a new council for the Football Association after a period of temporary management. Administrative stability and then the appointment of Hussein Jeneh as responsible for the national team and vice-president of the federation and Ziad Al-Jaziri as sports director played an important role in the beginning of a new and positive phase.
The Football Association, through the efforts of Hussein Janeh and Ziad Al-Jaziri, moved towards building a new team based on attracting promising talents active in Europe, searching for players with a good football level, and convincing them to play for Tunisia.
We also cannot forget the great role of coach Sami Trabelsi. I think that his presence at the head of the technical staff was a very successful choice.
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The Tunisia national team achieved a special achievement by not conceding goals throughout 10 matches of the qualifiers. Do you consider this an indication that this group is capable of achieving good results in the finals in the summer of 2026?
I do not think that this is a strong indicator. Whether the Tunisian team achieves these results and numbers or not, its ambition in every participation in the World Cup will remain to qualify for the second round, and this time I expect more than ever that it is time to watch the Eagles of Carthage for the first time in the second round of the World Cup.
The Tunisian national team is experiencing a positive period after the combination of many success factors, and therefore we are expected to see our national team pass the first round.
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The Tunisian national team has become very dependent on players with dual citizenship and those born in Europe, and the services of many players have already been obtained, such as Hannibal Al-Mejbri, Elias Saad, Ismail Al-Gharbi, Yann Valery and others. What is the extent of the addition that these players are expected to provide?
Their addition will certainly be great. Indeed, their performance during the qualifiers confirmed their ability to develop collective performance. I believe that the ceiling of expectations regarding the expected addition of these players is very high due to their presence in European clubs and their formation at an advanced football level.
The other factor is their talent, enthusiasm, and desire to achieve success in their international career, in addition to their professional mentality and commitment. We expect a lot from them in the upcoming competitions.
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What do you think of the appointment of Sami Trabelsi, your former colleague, as coach of the first team? Do you think that his presence at the head of the technical staff will be crowned with a new achievement for Tunisian football?
When I was a player, Sami Trabelsi was the captain of the national team. He had a calm and professional personality, and he maintained those qualities after he became a coach.
When Trabelsi found good management and officials who supported him and provided him with a good atmosphere and positive atmosphere, he achieved a very impressive qualification for the team to the World Cup, and the numbers confirm this.
He is now an ideal leader for the group and his competence is an important factor. He has previously achieved success with the national team (for reference, he won the 2011 African Cup) and no one expected that.
I wish him all the best and success in the Arab Cup for National Teams and the 2025 African Cup of Nations, before the big time in the World Cup.
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7 Arab teams will participate in the 2026 World Cup for the first time in history. In your opinion, how do you view this record number of Arab attendance in the World Cup, and can we see a repeat of Morocco’s achievement in the 2022 World Cup?
Everything is possible in football and achieving good results for these teams depends on the extent of their readiness and preparations for this major football event.
The teams of Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco are capable of achieving good results, especially since each of them has a group of professional players with high technical levels and great quality. The rest of the Arab teams will bet on positive results and can cause a surprise.
I wish the Arabs success in the next World Cup with this record number of qualifiers, and of course the Moroccan team remains the most likely to achieve outstanding results and repeat its brilliant achievement in the Qatar 2022 World Cup. Why not!
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The Tunisian national team participated 6 times in the World Cup, including two in which you were present: 1998 and 2002. In your opinion, what is Tunisia’s best participation in the finals, even if many consider the 1978 edition in Argentina to be the best?
I do agree that our team has not achieved better results or performance so far than that first participation in which Tunisian football did well.
At the same time, we were motivated by the desire in all subsequent participations to achieve results equal to or superior to what was presented by the “Argentina 1978” generation, and in each edition the ambitions were great, but the results were the opposite for several factors.
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What did your participation in the 1998 and 2002 World Cups leave in your football memory, and what was Tunisia missing to qualify for the second round?
The administrative problems that were worsening around the national team at that time affected our generation, which included senior players with great football levels, and the administrative crises spoiled us from achieving a historic participation in the World Cup with that generation, unfortunately, even though we represented a distinguished football generation with remarkable quality of players.
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You played for many years in the German League and you were the first Tunisian player to hold the captaincy in a European club. What achievements do you remember during your professional career in Freiburg?
During the period in which I had my first experience outside Tunisia in 1996, foreigners playing professionally in Europe were limited to only 3 players from outside the continent. The competition was great and my exit to the German League was at a late age (27 years old), but it was a very good and inspiring experience for me.
We don’t know what’s better: the goal or the celebration?! 😂 We wish you all the best for your 50th birthday, @zoubaier_baya 🤩🥳
___#SCF #HappyBirthday pic.twitter.com/TM1wgKlNQK— SC Freiburg (@scfreiburg) May 15, 2021
Professionalism in Freiburg added a lot to my sporting life, even if I wished it had been earlier, before the age of 27.
I played remarkable years with the team and held the captaincy, before I left for the Turkish club Besiktas, an experience I regretted going through because my choice was not successful in leaving Freiburg while I was at the height of giving and brilliance.