Tunisia fires coach mid-World Cup after being decimated by Sweden

The Tunisian men’s soccer team dropped their first match against Sweden in the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Sunday, and it appeared to have a reverberating effect across the squad.

Tunisia fired coach Sabri Lamouchi on Monday after the 5-1 loss. Hervé Renard was appointed the coach for the remainder of the World Cup. The Tunisian soccer federation said Renard’s deal will only cover the next matches in the tournament and a longer-term deal will be discussed later.

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Tunisia has Japan and the Netherlands remaining on the schedule. However, the loss put Tunisia in a pretty tough spot as Japan and the Netherlands’ 2-2 draw gave each team a point. Japan would qualify for the knockout stage if the World Cup ended today.

Renard has experience as a World Cup coach. He was in charge of Morocco in 2018 and Saudi Arabia in 2022. Saudi Arabia shocked the world in Qatar when the team beat Argentina in a group stage match. He also coached the French women’s team in the 2023 World Cup.

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Lamouchi had only been coaching Tunisia since January.

It’s not the first time Tunisia made a coaching change during the tournament.

In 1998, Tunisia fired Henryk Kasperczak after losses to England and Colombia in the group stage. The team was out of contention by the time it played Romania.

Spain had success in a stunning coaching turnaround mid-World Cup. In 2018, Spain fired Julen Lopetegui two days before its first match against Portugal. Spain advanced to the knockout stage but lost to Russia on penalties.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.