FIFA Club World Cup Fantasy 2025: ES Tunis – Best players, predicted XI + more

Our FIFA Club World Cup Group D team previews continue with ES Tunis, one of Chelsea’s opponents.

We’ll examine the recent records of the Tunisian side, as well as their top scorers, assist makers, set-piece specialists and best three assets for the official FIFA Club World Cup Fantasy game.

Data in this piece comes from Transfermarkt.

READ MORE: How to play the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 Fantasy Game
READ MORE: Club World Cup 2025 Fantasy complete guide
READ MORE: FIFA Club World Cup 2025 Fantasy – What the bookies’ odds say

ES TUNIS: OVERVIEW

Espérance Sportive de Tunis is the most decorated professional football club in Tunisia, having won the Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 a record 34 times. That figure includes yet another success in the 2024/25 season.

At the end of May, they also wrapped up the Tunisian Cup for the 16th time.

En route to that league title, which they won by four points, the club won 19 of their 30 games and lost just two, scoring 57 goals and conceding 22 as well as keeping 15 clean sheets.

ES Tunis are one of four African sides competing at the FIFA Club World Cup this summer, alongside Al Ahly, Mamelodi Sundowns and Wydad AC.

They qualified for the tournament via the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Champions League ranking pathway thanks to consistently performing well in Africa’s elite club competition over the past four seasons.

At the Club World Cup, their previous best performance – from three appearances between 2011 and 2019 – is fifth place, which they achieved in both 2018 and 2019.

GROUP FIXTURES

BOOKIES PREDICTIONS

	To Qualify	To Win Group
ES Tunis	10.5%	2.2%
Flamengo	67.3%	27.7%
Chelsea	82.5%	57.2%
LAFC	39.7%	12.9%

LEAGUE TOP SCORERS

Yan Sasse ($4.4m, FWD) – 10
Youcef Belaïli ($5.6m, MID) – 9
Achref Jabri ($4.4m, FWD) – 8

LEAGUE TOP ASSIST-MAKERS

Chiheb Jebali ($4.0m, MID) – 8
Houssem Tka ($4.6m, MID) – 7
Youcef Belaïli ($5.6m, MID) – 6
Achref Jabri ($4.4m, FWD) – 6

SET-PIECE TAKERS

PENALTIES

Youcef Belaïli ($5.6m)
Rodrigo Rodrigues ($6m)
Yan Sasse ($4.4m)

It might be a bit of a minefield predicting ES Tunis’s first-choice penalty taker given the variety of players who have stepped up to the spot with varying degrees of success this season – but here goes.

Centre-back – yes, centre-back! – Yassine Meriah ($4.8m) was the first man to do so, netting from the penalty spot in September, but a month later he missed one.

Centre-forward Rodrigo Rodrigues ($6.0m) – who missed much of this past league campaign with muscular injuries, from August until October and then again from Christmas Day until April – buried one on December 1st, before Youcef Belaïli ($5.6m) took and scored two and Yan Sasse ($4.4m) snapped up another in February. Then, centre-back Mohamed Amine Tougaï ($4.0m) tried his hand – with Sasse present but no Belaïli – and missed, before Belaïli took three in a row but missed his most recent effort, in mid-March.

The club’s last penalty came in late April, by which point Rodrigues was back to take it and score.

It is, however, worth noting that Belaïli was not in the matchday squad for both of Rodrigues’s penalties or the spot-kicks taken by Sasse or Tougaï. Therefore, which of he or Rodrigues – or someone else entirely – were to take one if they’re all on the pitch together remains to be seen.

CORNERS+ INDIRECT FREE-KICKS

Chiheb Jebali ($4.0m, MID)
Larry Azouni ($5.1m, MID)
Elyas Bouzaiene ($4.0m, DEF)

TOP FANTASY PICKS

YOUCEF BELAILI ($5.6M) – MID

As well as leading his side for direct goal involvements (15, nine goals and six assists) in the Tunisian top flight, Belaïli also managed an impressive seven goals and eight assists in 10 CAF Champions League matches.

Combined with his Tunisian Cup exploits, that took him to 18 goals and 16 assists from 34 total appearances in all competitions – just the kind of prolificness we’re after in a Fantasy asset!

One thing to watch is that the Algerian left-winger was periodically left out of the matchday squad in the league, including a two-match suspension for alleged attitude in April. Belaïli also seems to love a booking; he picked up 14 yellow cards in all competitions, but at least wasn’t sent off at all.

But if he can get anywhere near this season’s rate of attacking returns over in the US, possibly aided by penalty-taking duties, he stands out as one of ES Tunis’s best Fantasy picks.

AMINE BEN HAMIDA ($4M) – DEF

Many of ES Tunis’s defenders are in the bargain bin, one of whom is Amine Ben Hamida ($4.0m).

The ever-present Tunisian left-back is seemingly as nailed as can be, having played more league minutes than anyone else in the squad – including, unusually, the goalkeeper!

If that wasn’t enough to earn him a place on the roster as a budget-friendly option, Ben Hamida also scored three goals and assisted five more in his 28 league appearances.

He registered two more assists in the CAF Champions League.

YAN SASSE ($4.4M) – FWD

A third potential selection from ES Tunis is their leading league goal scorer, Yan Sasse ($4.4m).

Another bargain bucket pick, the Brazilian right winger returned 10 goals and two assists from 27 appearances and could be in with a shot at penalties depending on which of his teammates are present at the time.

If you have a little extra cash and he is fit and available, Rodrigues is an alternative. He seemingly shook off his injury woes in the final few domestic matches of the campaign, even scoring twice, and would appear to be one of the team’s first-choice takers from the penalty spot alongside Belaïli.

There is, however, a risk – particularly if new head coach Maher Kanzari opts against a two-striker system versus better opposition – that Rodrigues shares minutes with January signing Achref Jabri ($4.4m), who after racking up eight goals and six assists in the league alone is another solid option in this position.

If you want to go even cheaper and are worried about rotation in the frontline, then the team’s assist leader, attacking midfielder and fellow mid-season arrival Chiheb Jebali ($4.0m), could be just the guy.

EARLY PREDICTED XI

ES Tunis’s early predicted XI is actually a little difficult to call given they brought in a new manager in mid-March and also rotated their squad after wrapping the league up relatively early.

Amanallah Memmiche ($5m) was the club’s first-choice goalkeeper for much of the season and has been hailed as the “clean sheet prince” for his efforts, although the 21-year-old was benched for a few matches during the run-in as 32-year-old cup ‘keeper Béchir Ben Saïd was given some gametime.

Ben Hamida should be a lock at left-back, but centre-back is a little less certain with Tougaï, Hamza Jelassi ($4m) and – to a lesser extent due to a cruciate ligament injury in December – Meriah having shared minutes there this season. Meriah, the club’s captain, is fit again now but the level of his participation in the US is unknown with so few recent minutes under his belt.

It’s a similarly uncertain story at right-back between Raed Bouchniba ($4m) and Mohamed Ben Ali ($4.2m), but the former played more during the season just gone and the latter is classed a midfielder in the official Fantasy game anyway.

We’ve discussed the uncertainty up top, with the midfield dependent on whether one or two strikers are chosen to lead the line. Sasse and Belaïli should line up on the right and left wings, with Houssem Tka ($4.6m) a relatively reliable starter in the middle of the park. Jebali or teenager Abdramane Konaté ($4.3m) offer some more attacking options in the middle, too, while the likes of Onuche Ogbelu ($4.2m) and Khalil Guenichi ($4m) have all shared minutes with a few other bodies over the course of the season.