Sports
Football is the most popular sport in Tunisia. The Ligue Professionelle 1 has 14 teams that compete against one another for a trophy, also a chance to qualify for the Champions league of the African Cup of Nations. The Tunisian national football team won the African Cup of Nations in the year 2004.
However, sports like volleyball (eight national team championship wins in Africa) and handball (seven national team championship wins in Africa) are also among the sports most represented. Handball is the second most popular sport in Tunisia. In 2005, Tunisia held the 2005 World Men's Handball Championship and won fourth place in the competition. Other notable sports include rugby union, martial arts (taekwondo, judo and karate), athletics and tennis. Other major sports like cycling are less represented in contrast, because of lack of infrastructure and equipment but competitors still compete in the Tour de Tunisia.
The Tunisian sports year is punctuated by major competitions such as the championships in football, handball, volleyball and basketball. The country also organizes international competitions. Thus, the first edition of the FIFA World Cup Under-20 was held in Tunisia in 1977, the final stages of the African Cup of Nations in 1965, 1994, and 2004, and the last edition was won by the national team.
In May 2007, the country had 1,673 registered sports clubs whose main assets are in football (250) and taekwondo (206). Then come karate and its derivatives (166), wheelchair sports (140), handball (85), athletics (80), judo (66) kung fu (60), kickboxing (59), basketball (48), bowls (47), table tennis (45), volleyball (40) boxing (37), swimming (31), and tennis (30).
Read more about this topic: Culture Of Tunisia
Famous quotes containing the word sports:
“Reading about ethics is about as likely to improve one’s behavior as reading about sports is to make one into an athlete.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“...I didn’t come to this with any particular cachet. I was just a person who grew up in the United States. And when I looked around at the people who were sportscasters, I thought they were just people who grew up in the United States, too. So I thought, Why can’t a woman do it? I just assumed everyone else would think it was a swell idea.”
—Gayle Gardner, U.S. sports reporter. As quoted in Sports Illustrated, p. 85 (June 17, 1991)
“Falling in love is the right adventure for those who dislike sports and travel.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)