Tunisia sack Lamouchi just one game into World Cup

Tunisia have sacked head coach Sabri Lamouchi following the side’s defeat in their opening World Cup 2026 fixture.

Sweden inflicted a 5-1 loss on Tunisia in Sunday’s Group F tie at the Estadio Monterrey in Guadalupe, Mexico.

Reports afterwards suggested Lamouchi had been immediately sacked, but sources told BBC Sport that the 54-year-old took training on Monday.

However, the Tunisian Football Association has now confirmed that the Frenchman’s contract has been terminated by “mutual agreement”.

Former Morocco and Saudi Arabia manager Herve Renard has been appointed head coach of the side until the end of the tournament.

Lamouchi’s departure means he is the first manager in World Cup history to be sacked after just one game.

Tunisia sacked manager Henryk Kasperczak after a poor start during their 1998 World Cup campaign, when the side failed to win either of their first two matches.

Cha Bum-kun was dismissed by South Korea during the same tournament after defeats in their first two matches, while Julen Lopetegui was sacked by Spain two days before the start of the 2018 World Cup after agreeing to become Real Madrid manager.

But this is the first time a manager has lost his job after just one World Cup match and it brings to an end Lamouchi’s five-month stint in charge of Tunisia.

The former Nottingham Forest boss was only appointed in January, replacing Sami Trabelsi who left his role following a last-16 defeat by Mali at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Speaking after the defeat by Sweden, Lamouchi said the loss was “painful”.

“Starting the competition with this bad of a loss is indeed difficult,” Lamouchi said.

“We made too many mistakes, and this is not something that we can do. We are shooting ourselves in the foot, we are hurting ourselves.”

Lamouchi won just one of his five games as Tunisia head coach – a 1-0 victory over Haiti in his first game in charge.

In their two warm-up games for the World Cup earlier this month, they lost 1-0 to Austria before suffering a 5-0 thrashing by Belgium.

Tunisia face Japan and Netherlands in their remaining Group F fixtures.