Etoile du Sahel president steps down after CAF Confederation Cup disaster

Zoubeir Baya has stepped down as president of Tunisian giants Etoile du Sahel after submitting his resignation to the club on Monday.

The Tunisian football legend decided to end his tenure at the Sousse club after a disastrous start to the 2025-26 campaign that culminated with Etoile du Sahel’s shock elimination from the CAF Confederation Cup on Sunday. Etoile fell to Kenyan club Nairobi United in a penalty kick shootout after the two teams played to a 2-2 aggregate draw in the final qualifying stage.

In addition to the club’s failure to achieve its goals in continental competition, domestic results have been poor as well. L’Etoile currently sit in 12th place in the Tunisia Ligue 1 Professionnelle with only nine points from ten matches played including five defeats, three draws and only two victories. Earlier this month, coach Lassaad Dridi was sacked with the club currently under the watch of caretaker coach Mohamed Ali Nafkha.

Baya, one of the most accomplished figures in Tunisia’s football history, represented his nation at two World Cups and was named to the Team of the Tournament at the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations where the Eagles of Carthage finished runner-up. The attacking midfielder represented German club SC Freiburg and Turkish giants Besiktas in addition to Etoile du Sahel in his playing days, for whom he made well over 200 appearances.

Following Sunday’s elimination from the Confederation Cup, Etoile are holding an emergency meeting on Monday. With unacceptable results so far this season as well as financial difficulties, the 11-time Tunisian club champions also have four league matches in the next eleven days beginning with Wednesday’s clash against AS Marsa away from home.