Tunisia sack head coach after World Cup defeat
Tunisia have fired head coach Sabri Lamouchi following a heavy 5-1 loss to Sweden in their World Cup opener, replacing him with experienced French manager Hervé Renard.
The Tunisian Football Federation (FTF) announced on Tuesday that head coach Sabri Lamouchi has been dismissed. The decision came after Tunisia's crushing 5-1 defeat to Sweden in their first Group F match of the World Cup. The 54-year-old Frenchman lost his job after just one game.
Lamouchi's replacement is 57-year-old Hervé Renard, one of the most successful coaches in African football history. Under his guidance, Zambia won the Africa Cup of Nations in 2012, and Ivory Coast repeated the feat in 2015, making Renard the first coach to win the tournament with two different nations.
Renard has significant World Cup experience: he coached Morocco in 2018 and Saudi Arabia in 2022, where he led the team to a shocking 2-1 victory over eventual champions Argentina. His most recent role was again with Saudi Arabia, from May 2024 to April 2025. He has also coached the French women's national team, Angola, and various clubs in France, England, Algeria, and Vietnam.
Tunisia still have Group F matches against Japan on June 21 and the Netherlands on June 26. This is the first World Cup to feature 48 teams, hosted by Mexico, the United States, and Canada. The group stage ends on June 27, with the knockout rounds starting June 28.
