Tunis Sports Stadiums Renovation: CAF Standards 2024

The numbers are not flattering. Of the 14 stadiums and major sport complexes managed by the Office des Sports in Greater Tunis, fewer than half meet current UEFA or CAF technical standards for international competition — a gap that has cost the country at least three high-profile hosting bids since 2022. Now, with the Tunisian Football Federation formally requesting CAF certification for two venues ahead of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying cycle, the pressure on public works officials has sharpened considerably.

This matters now for a specific reason. Tunis was passed over for several continental athletics and football fixtures in the past 18 months, with CAF and World Athletics directing events to Casablanca and Algiers instead, citing infrastructure deficiencies. Officials at the Ministère de la Jeunesse et des Sports confirmed in late June that a comprehensive infrastructure audit — the first since 2018 — had been completed, and that preliminary findings would be presented to the government by mid-July. The audit covered everything from pitch drainage to spectator accessibility and media facilities.

The Venues at the Centre of the Debate

Stade Hamdi Agrebi in Rades remains the flagship. Capacity 60,000. The national stadium hosted the 2004 AFCON final and has not seen a full structural renovation since. Work on the eastern tribune, suspended in 2023 due to budget shortfalls, is now reportedly back on schedule under a revised 42-million-dinar contract with a Tunisian construction consortium. The target completion date is October 2026 — which would be tight even without the logistical complications of keeping the pitch in use for domestic fixtures through the summer.

Stade El Menzah, in the northern suburb of the same name, tells a different story. The 45,000-seat ground, home of Club Africain and Espérance Sportive de Tunis alternately for cup fixtures, had its floodlighting system replaced in March after a much-publicised failure during an evening Ligue Professionnelle 1 match in February left players and officials stranded for 40 minutes. The new LED system cost 1.8 million dinars and is rated to international broadcast standards. Small upgrade. Significant signal.

Beyond football, the Salle de Sports de Rades — the covered arena attached to the national complex — handles basketball, handball and boxing, and currently runs at roughly 78 percent capacity utilisation on any given week according to figures from the regional sports directorate for Ben Arous. The arena hosted the Arab Basketball Championship preliminary rounds in 2024 and is already pencilled in for a regional handball tournament in February 2027. Plans for a second covered arena in the El Omrane neighbourhood, proposed in the 2023-2025 national sport investment plan, remain stalled at the feasibility study phase.

Grassroots Gaps That the Big Projects Won't Fix

The infrastructure conversation in Tunis runs deeper than the headline venues. Municipal sport facilities in working-class neighbourhoods — Ettadhamen, Hay Hlel, Sijoumi — are in visibly poor condition. Many synthetic pitches installed under the 2016 national grassroots programme have passed their rated seven-year lifespan and have not been replaced. The cost of resurfacing a standard five-a-side pitch is approximately 180,000 dinars; the Tunis municipal budget allocated 2.1 million dinars for all sport infrastructure maintenance in 2026, a figure sports advocacy groups say covers perhaps a quarter of actual need.

The private sector is beginning to fill some of the vacuum. A sports complex opened in La Goulette in September 2025 — privately financed, with three synthetic pitches, a 25-metre pool, and a gym — charges membership fees starting at 80 dinars a month, putting it out of reach for many residents. A second private facility, under construction near the Avenue de la République in Ariana, is expected to open in late 2026 with a padel court, something still rare in the capital.

What happens next depends heavily on the mid-July audit report. If the government commits additional funds before the autumn budget cycle closes — typically finalised in November — at least some of the El Omrane arena plans could advance to tender by early 2027. Clubs and federation administrators would do well to submit detailed technical requests before that window closes. Tunis has the sport culture. The question, as it has been for years, is whether the concrete and the money arrive at the same time.