The team won the African Nations Championship in 2011 by beating Angola in the final and the FIFA Arab Cup in 1963, eventually winning with 8 points on their first participation.

Former Cameroon manager Jean Vincent was hired but the team was unable to qualify for the 1988 African Cup in Morocco after a defeat against Algeria.

However, he was removed days before the start of the competition after poor results in the 1988 Arab Cup and failure to win in their matches against Saudi Arabia,[13] Lebanon,[14] Egypt[15] and Iraq,[16] as well as friendlies against Malta, Finland and East Germany.

Polish manager Antoni Piechniczek was temporarily appointed and supervised the team in the first round of 1990 World Cup qualifiers and also in the finals of the Olympic Games; in the latter, Tunisia tied China 0–0[17] and Sweden 2–2[18] and lost to West Germany 4–1.

Tunisia went on to beat Gabon in the quarter-finals and Zambia in the semi-finals,[22][23] to reach their first major final in 31 years, but lost to host country South Africa 2–0.

[24] Tunisia reached the quarter-finals of the 1998 African Cup of Nations in the lead of the group with a win over DR Congo,[25] Togo and a defeat from Ghana,[26][27] where they were eliminated in a penalty shootout by host country Burkina Faso.

[28] The team also qualified for that year's World Cup after a 20-year absence: they again failed to advance from the group stages, losing 2–0 to England and 1–0 to Colombia,[29][30] and drawing 1–1 with Romania.

[31] Kasperczak was sacked and replaced with Francesco Scoglio, who guided the team to the 2000 African Cup of Nations, where they finished in fourth place after losing to Cameroon in the semi-finals.

Eckhard Krautzun initially took over and guided the team to a second World Cup appearance, but then resigned, citing interference from the Tunisian FA with his coaching.

Henri Michel replaced him, but was sacked when Tunisia crashed out of the 2002 African Cup of Nations without scoring a single goal after scoreless draws with Senegal and Zambia and a defeat from Egypt.

Finally, Ammar Souayah took over in time for the 2002 World Cup; the team drew in friendlies with Norway and South Korea and were defeated by Denmark and Slovenia.

In the finals, Tunisia exited the tournament in the group stage, drawing 1–1 with Belgium, losing 2–0 to Russia and co-hosts Japan,[33][34][35] prompting a search for a new manager.

[36][37][38] In September 2002, the Tunisian Football Federation announced that it was finalizing a contract with former France manager Roger Lemerre.

Tunisia built a 1–0 lead after four minutes with Mehdi Nafti's concentration pushed by Francileudo Santos, before Morocco levelled.

[42][43][44] Before their 2006 World Cup appearance, Lemerre took the Tunisians to a training camp in Switzerland, where they played international friendlies against Swiss clubs.

[45] Hatem Trabelsi announced his retirement from international football after eight years,[46][47] and Lemerre led Tunisia to the 2008 African Cup of Nations.

Faouzi Benzarti was appointed as the new manager, and was also sacked after Tunisia were eliminated from the group stage in the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations.

Sami Trabelsi was appointed, and the team qualified for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, where they were eliminated in the quarter-finals after a defeat by Ghana.

In February 2013, Nabil Maâloul replaced Sami Trabelsi; in their first two 2014 World Cup qualification matches, Tunisia beat Sierra Leone 2–1 and clinched a 2–2 draw in Freetown.

Tunisia qualified for the 2015 African Cup of Nations, and topped their group for the first time since 2008, winning against Zambia and drawing with Cape Verde and DR Congo.

He managed to qualify the team for the 2017 African Cup, and reached the quarter-finals of the competition after beating Algeria and Zimbabwe,[55][56] before losing again in this round, this time against Burkina Faso.

[74] The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations was postponed to early 2022; in the group stage, Tunisia began with a 1–0 defeat against Mali, with Zambian referee Janny Sikazwe ending the match in the 85th minute.

[78][79] In March, Tunisia qualified for their sixth World Cup, the 2022 tournament in Qatar, the first hosted by an Arab nation, after beating Mali 1–0 on aggregate, taking revenge for the earlier loss in the AFCON.

[80] They then defeated Chile and Japan to win the 2022 Kirin Cup Soccer title for the first time,[81][82] and Ferjani Sassi was named the best player of the tournament while his compatriot Issam Jebali finished as the top scorer with two goals.

[83] Tunisia played two pre-World Cup friendlies in France in September 2022, defeating Comoros 1−0 in Croissy-sur-Seine[84] and losing 5−1 to Brazil at the Parc des Princes in Paris.

[90][91] It hosted the Africa Cup of Nations in 1965 and 1994 and the 1977 FIFA World Youth Championship before it was replaced after the construction of El Menzah Stadium in 1967 for the 1967 Mediterranean Games.

[92] The first match at the stadium was played on 7 July 2001 between Étoile du Sahel and CS Hammam-Lif for the Tunisian Cup final.

Tunisia's main football rivals are its neighbours Algeria, Morocco, and Egypt, with which it shares close cultural and political relations.

[103][104] Tunisian Television is currently broadcasting Tunisia's matches in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification on El Watania 2 channel.

Win Draw Loss Fixture The following players were called up for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches against Madagascar and The Gambia, on 14 and 18 November 2024 respectively.