Tunisia set to fire coach Sabri Lamouchi after just one World Cup game


Tunisia are on the verge of sacking their coach Sabri Lamouchi after just one World Cup match. Sources who preferred to remain anonymous reported that the country plans to part ways with Lamouchi after the 5-1 defeat to Sweden, which took place last Sunday. His departure would be a landmark, becoming the first coach to be dismissed after just one game at a world tournament. Lamouchi, 54, has won just one of the five matches he has managed Tunisia since his signing five months ago. Sweden's goals were scored by Yasin Ayari, Alexander Isak, Viktor Gyokeres and Mattias Svenberg, which took Tunisia to the last position in Group F. The team still has two more games to play in the group stage: against Japan on June 21st and against the Netherlands on June 26th. "It's a difficult defeat. It's painful," Lamouchi told reporters after the loss to Sweden. "Starting the competition with such an ugly defeat is indeed complicated. With the world-class players we have, like the Swedish strikers (Gyokeres and Isak), it is something difficult to overcome. We made a lot of mistakes. We have our pride. We need to react. We need to give a better image." Lamouchi took charge of Tunisia in January 2026, replacing Sami Trabelsi, who left the post after the team's elimination in the round of 32 of the 2025 African Cup of Nations. The former coach of Côte d'Ivoire, Rennes, Nottingham Forest, Cardiff City and Al Riyadh lost three of the five games he led Tunisia. Lamouchi's only win was a 1-0 win over Haiti in March, while his side were also beaten 5-0 by Belgium in a pre-World Cup friendly. Tunisia are not the first team to fire a coach during a tournament, and they have done so before. At the 1998 World Cup, held in France, the country fired coach Henryk Kasperczak before the end of the group stage after defeats to England and Colombia, without scoring goals. Ali Selmi took charge for the final group stage match, which ended in a draw against Romania. Most recently, in February 2024, Ivory Coast sacked Jean-Louis Gasset after two defeats in two games in the group stage of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, leaving them on the brink of elimination. He was replaced by assistant Emerse Fae, who led the team to victory in the tournament. This is the second time in 2026 that Tunisia has parted ways with their coach. In January, Sami Trabelsi was fired the day after Tunisia was eliminated by Mali on penalties in the round of 16 phase of the African Cup of Nations. Tunisia looked on course to reach the quarter-finals when they opened the scoring in the 88th minute through Firas Chaouat, but ended up conceding a goal in stoppage time. If the manner of that defeat was painful, what happened against Sweden was embarrassing. This was compounded by Yasin Ayari, whose father is Tunisian, scoring two of Sweden's goals. Initially, there was optimism following Lamouchi's signing. The 54-year-old, who represented France during his playing career but was born to Tunisian parents, has started to give opportunities to the younger generation, including 21-year-old Paris Saint-Germain winger Khalil Ayari. He also called up 18-year-old Vancouver Whitecaps forward Rayan Elloumi and 22-year-old defenseman Raed Chikhaoui. Lamouchi was trying to inject youth intoteam at the expense of experience, but this did not work out as his team was outclassed by Sweden. Omar Belghith, a Tunisian fan who spoke to Athletic for the Language of Soccer series, describes Tunisia's performance against Sweden as the "worst defeat in World Cup history". "There were no tactics, no structure, and no identity — just chaos on the pitch," said Belghith, who has supported Tunisia since watching the 1998 World Cup as a five-year-old. "The players looked lost and completely out of position. The team started without a real striker. Every decision seemed wrong from the first minute to the last. But the real problem isn't just the coach. It's whoever signed him and allowed this to happen in the first place. Full responsibility goes all the way to the top. At a certain point, it's no longer about the coaches, but about the system making the same mistakes over and over again.