The coach of Esperance of Tunis, Faouzi Benzarti, will lead Tunisia at the Orange/Africa Cup of Nations in January 2010. He has just been appointed to replace Portuguese born Umberto Coelho, sacked following the non-qualification of the Carthage Eagles for the World Cup. At the end of Angola 2010, he will end the championship as coach of Esperance and will effectively take up his functions as the national team coach on July 1, 2010. The former player and coach of Union Sportive of Monastir, Benzartir, aged 50, has also managed Esperance of Tunis, Club Africain, Etoile Sportive of Sahel, Club Sportif Sfaxien, Stade Tunisien and a Lybian team before returning to Esperance. Faouzi Benzarti has once led the Tunisian National team to the Africa Cup of Nations during a unique match.
That was in 1994 in Tunisia, following an initial defeat (0-2) against Mali, during the opening match. He had replaced Youssef Zouaoui for the second and last match, which saw the Tunisian held to a draw by Zaire 91-1) and eliminated. He has six national titles to his credit; three with Esperance, two with Etoile of Sahel and one with Club Africain. He won one African Champions League Cup (1994), one Confederations Cup (2006) and one Super African Cup (1994). It is the first time since 2002 and Ammar Souayah, who managed the team at the World Cup in Japan that the team was handed to a Tunisian after Roger Lemerre (2002-2008) and that of Umberto Coelho (2008-2009).
