Tunisia at the Africa Cup of Nations

In the 1996 edition, led by Polish coach Henryk Kasperczak, the team reached the final, but lost to hosts South Africa 0–2.

[5] Eight years later, in the 2004 edition hosted by Tunisia for the third time, the team won the title for the first time in its history, led by the French coach Roger Lemerre with a respectable generation of players, after defeating Senegal in the quarter-finals and Nigeria in the semi-finals, and defeated Morocco in the final match 2–1, Francileudo Santos and Ziad Jaziri scored the Tunisian goals.

In total, Tunisia have participated in the African Cup of Nations 21 times, playing 83 matches, with 25 wins, 30 draws and 28 losses, scoring 100 goals and conceding 97.

[126] The team managed to break the streak by hosting the African Cup of Nations as a replacement for Zaire, but was defeated by Mali 0–2 in the opening match in front of 45,000 people at the El Menzah Stadium,[127] which contributed to the dismissal of Youssef Zouaoui, replaced by Faouzi Benzarti, who drew the second match against Zaire 1–1.

As hosts, Tunisia did not have to qualify for the 2004 African Cup of Nations,[129] where they face DR Congo, Rwanda and Guinea in the first round.

The team won his opening match against Rwanda 2–1,[130] thanks to goals from Ziad Jaziri and Francileudo Santos, despite the expulsion of Selim Benachour in the 60th minute with a red card.

[131] The second match against DR Congo is difficult until the Congolese Lomana LuaLua is sent off with a red card in the first half, after a frank attack on Jawhar Mnari.

In the quarter-finals, Senegal who had already beaten Lemerre as France coach 1–0 in the 2002 World Cup, faced him; Tunisia also won this game 1–0,[136] with Mnari scoring in the second half after a scissor kick from Jaziri; this match is notorious for the appearance of fog on the pitch.

During the final, on 14 February 2004 at Stade 7 November in Radès in front of 70,000 supporters,[139] Tunisia got off to a good start with a lead 1–0 after four minutes with Mehdi Nafti centered on Dos Santos, who scored his fourth goal of the tournament.

At the end of the first half, Morocco came back to score with a goal from Youssouf Hadji on a lift from Youssef Mokhtari.

[140] Khaled Badra and Riadh Bouazizi lifted the trophy after receiving it from President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Assistant referees: Ali Tomusange (Uganda) Brighton Mudzamiri (Zimbabwe) Fourth official: Coffi Codjia (Benin)

The start of the competition was poor after three draws in the group stage against Angola,[156] Mali,[157] and Mauritania[158] to qualify for the Round 16 with great difficulty in second place.

In the next round, the results improved by beating Ghana,[159] and Madagascar 3–0[160] to qualify for the semi-finals for the first time in 15 years when Tunisia won the AFCON in 2004 before they narrowly lost to Senegal 1–0[161] in extra time after a referee dispute of Bamlak Tessema because of not giving a clear penalty to Tunisia 4 minutes before the end of the game to complete the competition in fourth place behind Nigeria.

Nevertheless, the team defeated strong Nigeria 1–0 with the goal of Youssef Msakni from outside the penalty area, despite the absence of Mondher Kebaier from the match due to his infection with the COVID-19 virus, and he was replaced by his assistant Jalel Kadri.

[182] However, as the match became increasingly difficult, the Tunisians almost fell into the traps of the South African counter-attack, including a missed effort from Sphephelo Sithole.

[183] Despite a goal attempt from Haythem Jouini, the match ended goalless, eliminating Tunisia from the group stage for the first time since the 2013 edition.