Tunisian club Metlaoui face uncertain future after halting operations

TUNIS, Oct 14 - Tunisian top-flight club ES Metlaoui will suspend all sporting activities after a deepening financial crisis, mounting debts and a player strike left them unable to continue operating normally, a club spokesperson told Reuters on Wednesday.

The move raises fresh uncertainty over the future of the club, whose players stopped training in September in protest over unpaid wages. The club recently disclosed a deficit of 383,000 Tunisian dinars ($128,000) for the 2025-26 season.

Spokesperson El-Bahy Dinnari said the club's board decided to halt activities across all sports after exhausting options to keep operations running.

The announcement came a day after Metlaoui said on Facebook they were suspending activities following a review of their finances.

However, the Tunisian Professional Football League said it had yet to receive official notification of the decision.

"We have not received any official document from the club," league spokesperson Hafez Ben Ahmed told Reuters.

Ben Ahmed said the league could not comment on statements published on the club's social media platforms and that the decision could only be formally verified if the team failed to fulfil their competitive obligations.

"It can only be confirmed on matchday if the team does not show up and honour its official fixture," he said.

He added that the league's executive committee would meet later on Wednesday and that Metlaoui's situation would be among the issues under discussion.

Metlaoui are 12th in the league standings with three points from five matches. REUTERS