Maaloul Calls Tunisia’s Arab Cup Prep Flawed and Sparks Timing Debate
4 December 2025
Tunisia's Arab Cup prep under scrutiny
Tunisian head coach Nabil Maaloul said that Tunisia's Arab Cup preparations were not successful, noting that the Lions are aiming to bounce back on Thursday against Palestine after their opening loss to Syria by a single goal.
In an interview with AFP, Maaloul, who last coached Tunisia in 2018, suggested it might have been better to call up a reserve side to participate in the Arab Cup, as Egypt, Algeria, and Morocco have done.
He noted that Tunisia's loss in the opening game, along with Qatar's 0-1 defeat to Palestine, shuffled the cards of Group A, praising the Syrians and Palestinians for their performances in the tournament's opening round.
Kuwait's perspective and timing criticisms
Maaloul, now the coach of Kuwait's Qadsia, referred to Kuwait's 1-1 draw with Egypt, noting that the Blue wasted a precious win due to losing focus in the final minutes.
Maaloul, 62, emphasized that predicting which teams will advance to the title is difficult amid strong competition.
He criticized the Arab Cup's timing (December 1-18), pointing out that African teams are focused on the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco (Dec 21–Jan 18), which limits the availability of many key players in Europe’s top leagues.
Maaloul, who led Tunisia to the 2018 World Cup, said the timing is poor and proposed hosting it during FIFA pauses in coordination with FIFA to ease participation of professionals.
He added that FIFA did not account for North African teams' preparations for the Africa Cup of Nations, starting just days after the Arab Cup's end, making it hard to rely on core players who are tied to European clubs.
On why some teams ignore Kuwaiti League players like Egyptian Amr Abdel-Fattah and Tunisian Yassine al-Khnesi, Maaloul said: The Kuwaiti league is below average, which leads coaches to focus on other players with more impact at higher levels.
Punchline 1: If timing were a player, it would be late to kickoff.
Punchline 2: My football forecasts are so sharp the ball asks for a rerun.
