2026 World Cup: Tunisia expels coach Lamouchi – Renard should take over

1:5 against Sweden in the video

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The Tunisian (Site notre blog d’information) Federation has parted ways with national coach Sabri Lamouchi during the ongoing World Cup. This was confirmed Tuesday morning on the association’s social networks. Frenchman Hervé Renard should succeed him to lead the national team for the remainder of the tournament, association president Moez Nasri was quoted as saying by state television. The 1:5 in the opening match of the World Cup in Monterrey against Sweden was the last match as national coach for Lamouchi, who only took office in January and was actually under contract until the summer of 2028.

Tunisian television reported that he left the national team headquarters in Mexico after an agreement was reached to terminate the contract. Renard is expected to arrive quickly at the team camp to prepare for the second match against Japan on Sunday (CEST). Renard, 57, was until recently coach of Saudi Arabia. He already has some experience coaching African national teams and led Zambia and Ivory Coast to African Cup of Nations titles.

The significant defeat against Sweden was too much for the 54-year-old Lamouchi, whose team ranks in the bottom third of the World Cup with a squad value of around 70 million euros (according to statistics of World Cup participants). Since he was hired as Tunisia’s national coach in January this year, there has been only one victory, a 1-0 win over Haiti. In preparation for the World Cup, the former French international’s team lost 1-0 to Austria and 5-0 to Belgium during the dress rehearsal.

During the last two matches of the preliminary round of the World Cup, Tunisia is under great pressure against Japan (Sunday, 6 a.m.) and the Netherlands (June 26, 1 a.m.) in Group F.