By Durosimi Thomas
BBC Sport's North African football correspondent |
 Esperance have won a record seven successive Tunisian titles |
Esperance Sportive Tunis' 3-0 defeat of ES Beni-Khalled on Sunday confirmed that the Tunisian giants are champions of their country once again.
In fact, Esperance's title is their seventh in a row - an ongoing record in Tunisian football.
Before the Tunis side's storming run, no team had previously won more than three consecutive league championships.
That feat was achieved by Italia between 1934 and 1937, but Esperance are now rewriting the history books.
With a total of 20 league titles, 'the blood and golds', as they are nicknamed, have smashed every record at home.
But many are surprised that for the seventh year, not one of their closest rivals was able to deny Esperance the title.
Neither Club Africain, who can boast a second-best 11 championships, Etoile Sahel nor Club Sportive Sfaxien were able to take advantage of Esperance's shaky start to the season.
The Tunis side was out of sorts when it crashed out of the 2003 African Champions League in November's semi-finals, and coach Youssouf Zouaoui resigned the following month.
Charismatic club president Slim Chiboub, who has been at the helm for 15 years, had also announced his resignation but was then persuaded by the club's general assembly to stay on.
Some star players of the side like Khaled Badra, Riadhi Jaidi and Brazilian-born defender Jose Clayton were distracted by national team commitments ahead of the last 2004 Cup of Nations.
Yet following Tunisia's Nations Cup triumph, Esperance bounced back with a new coach, the Argentine Oscar Fullone, to open up a gap nearly a dozen points-strong before Etoile Sahel closed them down in the later stages.
 The Esperance logo |
Yet this season's side was certainly not one of Esperance's best - and their rivals, who were equally full of talent, can look to the future with optimism.
Esperance captain Badra, who has played in five Nations Cups, as well as defenders Tarek Thabet and Skander Souayah are all approaching retirement.
Meanwhile, Etoile Sahel, led by former national team skipper Zoubeir Beya, and Club Sfaxien, who are inspired by Libyan midfield maestro Tarek El Tayeb, played far more exciting football this season.
In looking to explain Esperance's domestic domination, one factor is their efficient organisational and administrative structure, which is the envy of many Tunisian sides.
The club said that US$3 million was spent on building a team hotel, which was completed a few years ago, as well as a camping centre in the capital Tunis - an infrastructure unmatched by any other club in the North African country.
Consistency with technical and playing staff is another reason for the club's recent successes.
Several other Tunisian sides are notorious for changing coaches after every other defeat - with Stade Tunisien having had four managers this season.
Meanwhile, Club Africain sacked Mushin Ertugral after the Turk took charge of just three games in his first season with the side.
Yet this instability seems to have temporarily abandoned Esperance.
Under Fullone, a coach who has won league titles in Ivory Coast and Morocco, Esperance are entering an era where they are equalling various records across the continent in terms of consecutive league wins.
Following this latest success, the Tunis side joins Egyptian giants Al Ahly of Egypt and the now defunct Silure of Burkina Faso as African clubs who have won seven league championships in a row.
 A shop decked out in Esperance colours shows the club's popularity |
If 'the blood and golds' retain their league crown next season, they will join Equatorial Guinean side CD Ela Nguema, St Louisienne of Reunion and Gambia's Wallidan as teams who have won eight consecutive titles.
A further record in sight is that shared by Hafia of Guinea and Seychelles outfit St Louis.
Between 1971 and 1979, Hafia became the most feared club in the continent as the club set an African record of nine straight league wins.
In 1985, St Louis of Seychelles achieved the same feat.
But the record Esperance will be chasing was completed over half a century ago by Etoile Filante in modest Togo.
In 1953, Etoile won their tenth successive league championship in a row and this achievement is unmatched across the continent.
MMIX
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