Tunisia- The Tunisian Professional League clubs rushed to the summer transfer market for the players in a rapid coordination, in preparation for the new season, so that the number of contracts during the first week of the period of the players registered unprecedented numbers reflected the club’s desire to achieve remarkable results, but in return it hid their inability to form young men and benefit from the production of talent -making academies.
On July 1, the summer transfer market of the Tunisian League was opened to continue until August 31, amid a suffocating debt crisis that ravages more than half of the 16th division clubs.
Although most of the football clubs in Tunisia have been under the weight of financial difficulties for more than 10 years, due to the decline in their revenues and the imposition of restrictions on the attendance of the fans, the first days of contracts have recorded record numbers for some clubs that have reached the maximum allowed contract.
Quick deals and mysterious questions
Between the first and eighth of July, the first -class professional league clubs contracted with about 35 official transactions, as well as renewing contracts for about 10 players after their connections with their clubs ended on June 30.
The Monastirian Federation (the league champion runner) came at the top of the clubs that signed the largest number of new contracts, as the team included 8 new players, namely Saif Al -Din Saber, Ayoub Shaban, Ibrahim Al -Souissi, Dhia Al -Matouqi, Nessim Al -Duwaish, and Aziz Obaid, alongside Senegalese Bodiane, and the Nigerian striker Victor Moussa.
The Monastirian Federation chose to strengthen its ranks with a huge amount of new players despite the controversy over their technical value and the extent of their ability to provide the addition to the team in local and African competitions.
Al -Ittihad spokesman Ali Al -Bahouri believes that the eight contracts that the team made during the first days of the summer transfer period reflect the desire of the board of directors and the technical staff to prepare the team early for the next season, which begins in late July, according to Al -Bahari.
In a special statement to Al -Jazeera Net, Al -Bahari considered that “the Monastirian Federation preached what happened last season when it bet on the League and Cup titles until the last stages, but it lost both after the injuries of some of the pillars, and the lack of appropriate alternatives to compensate them in a sensitive time.”
Al -Bahari continued: “We decided the current season to have two players in the technical staff in each center, so that the scenario of the last season was not repeated, our results were not bad, but we were able to present a better march had it not been for the shortage of the squad during a decisive and influential stage of the season.”
Al -Bahari believes that there is another reason for his team to contract with a large number of players in the early days of the transfer market, which is the need of the technical staff to start preparing for the new season by relying on a rich balance, especially since a number of players left the end of last season, including Moses A orkoma, Furat Al -Sultani, Shehab Al -Salhi and Iyad Al -Hajj Khalifa, according to him.
The Monastirian Federation is running 4 competitions in the new season, the first of which is the Tunisian Super Cup in late July, then the local league and cup competition and the African Champions League.
Dealimous contracts
As for the Tunisian stadium (the runner -up of the cup competition), 5 new players, who are Elias Al -Jalasi, Nour Al -Din Al -Farahati, Abdel Rahman Al -Hanashi, Hosni Kazmir and Firas Aifaya.
In parallel, the Tunisian stadium, which participates in the Tunisian Super Cup and the African Confederation Cup, was alongside the local league and cup competitions, renewed the contracts of its players, Marwan Sahrawi, and Wael Al -Wargami for an additional year.
Esperance, in turn, was a race in contracting with a number of players during the first days of the transfer period, as he obtained the services of Louay Dahnous, Ashraf bin Dhimaf, Mukhtar bin Zaid and Jassim in Kilani, as well as renewing the contracts of Saif Al -Sharafi and Amir Al -Tajouri until June.
6 new players joined the future of the marina, who are Sami Hilal, Anwar Al -Juwayni, Hassan Mansour, Osama Al -Jabali, Yassri Al -Arfawi and Ahmed Al -Hadary.
For his part, the African (the second club of Tunisia was crowned with titles) 3 new deals, when both goalkeeper Muhib Al -Shamkh and defense players Hossam bin Ali and Hossam Hassan Ramadan included.
The African will be in front of the inevitability of getting rid of his debts and raising the penalty of ban from the contracts imposed by the FIFA Conflict Committee (FIFA) on the team since last January by preventing rehabilitation and registration of new players until after settling his debts and raising the FIFA penalty.
During the past years, the African lived on the impact of a suffocating financial crisis, which has exacerbated his debts, and ended with the imposition of the penalty for contracting for varying periods as a result of his inability to salvage debts.
Poly financial positions
The African club is not the only team banned from contracts. Rather, 6 other clubs are still under the weight of the International Football Association, which are the star of Al -Mitlwi, the Sfaxien club, the coastal star, the future of Suleiman, the Benzarti Club and Etihad Bin Qirdan, are prohibited from registration of new players during the “Mercato” currently until the settlement of its debts.
While some league teams signed deals that are still pending the failure of the penalty, such as the African and Najm al -Mutlawi, other clubs chose to wait, such as the Benzarti club, who decided to rely on the players of last season, due to the financial crisis and the FIFA punishment, according to coach Sufyan Al -Haidousi to Al -Jazeera Net.
Al -Haidousi stated that “we cannot increase the situation in financial terms. Everyone knows that most of the league clubs are under the weight of heavy debts, which caused a torrent against it. This situation requires reviewing the policy of contracts and re -consideration of the formation of young men and the role of academies in making and graduating football talents without exorbitant costs.”
The coach told Al -Jazeera Net that “the very expensive contracts are the first factor behind the penalty for preventing clubs from contracts. We have to review the entire contracting policy. For us, we will wait for the penalty to be raised after the debt salvation and we may contract with two or 3 players at the latest.”
The Tunisian League will start for the 2025-2026 season on the ninth of next August with the participation of 16 clubs, while the Super Cup competition will be held a week earlier.