Tunisia Part Ways with Sabri Lamouchi After Disastrous 5-1 Opening Defeat to Sweden

The Tunisian Football Federation (FTF) has taken the most dramatic early action of the FIFA World Cup 2026™, parting ways with head coach Sabri Lamouchi after just one game into their tournament campaign. The decisive move follows a humiliating 5-1 thrashing at the hands of Sweden in their opening Group F fixture on Sunday night at the Monterrey Stadium, leaving the North African side at the bottom of their group and in complete structural disarray.

Lamouchi, who took charge of the Eagles of Carthage in January 2026 on a contract intended to run until 2028, becomes the first managerial casualty of this World Cup. His brief six-month tenure ends after just five official matches in the dugout, characterized by mounting defensive frailties and rumored dressing-room unrest. The catastrophic defensive display against Sweden, which featured a brace from Yasin Ayari alongside strikes from Alexander Isak, Viktor Gyökeres, and Mattias Svanberg, proved to be the final straw for football authorities, who had already grown anxious following a 5-0 hammering by Belgium in a pre-tournament warm-up match earlier this month.

In an official statement released on Tuesday, the federation confirmed that two-time Africa Cup of Nations winner Hervé Renard will take absolute charge of the squad for the remainder of the World Cup campaign. The 57-year-old French tactician is scheduled to arrive at the team’s base camp in Mexico on Tuesday evening to oversee his first training session. Under the terms of the emergency agreement, Renard will handle immediate tournament operations, with formal negotiations for a long-term contract scheduled to open based on the team's sporting objectives after the World Cup concludes.