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Tunisia is said to have sacked head coach Sabri Lamouchi following a humiliating 5–1 loss to Sweden at the 2026 World Cup.
Despite sitting only seven spots below Sweden in the FIFA world rankings, Tunisia were thoroughly outclassed as Graham Potter's men cruised to victory with goals from Yasin Ayari (brace), Alexander Isak, Viktor Gyökeres and Mattias Svanberg.
"The World Cup is a prestigious competition that punishes any team that makes serious errors," Lamouchi stated.
Reports from Tunisia suggest that several physical confrontations erupted within the Tunisian camp following the final whistle, prompting team officials to quickly convene an emergency meeting.
As first reported by journalist Romain Molina, the outcome of that meeting was the dismissal of Lamouchi, who only took over the squad in January and has managed just one win from five matches.
History Repeats Itself for Tunisia
Coaches are seldom dismissed during World Cup competitions, though it has occurred on a few notable occasions throughout history.
Remarkably, this is not the first time Tunisia has taken such drastic action in the middle of a World Cup campaign. Back in 1998, hopes of a strong tournament quickly faded following a 2–0 loss to England and a 1–0 defeat to Colombia.
The squad, under the guidance of Henryk Kasperczak, was knocked out mathematically before their third fixture, and officials were so enraged that Kasperczak was relieved of his duties with immediate effect.
That was not even the first coaching change of the 1998 World Cup, as Cha Bum-kun was let go after a single game — a 5–0 thrashing by the Netherlands.
Such mid-tournament changes have been uncommon in recent times. In 2018, Julen Lopetegui was dismissed by Spain just two days before the competition began, after Real Madrid announced him as their incoming manager post-tournament. Spanish officials claimed to have been completely unaware of Lopetegui's talks with Los Blancos and felt the timing was deeply disrespectful.
With Fernando Hierro stepping in as interim boss, Spain advanced from their group but claimed just one win from three games before being eliminated by Russia on penalties in the round of 16.
That outcome was considered a letdown for Spain, but simply reaching the knockout rounds would be regarded as a significant achievement for Tunisia, who currently sit at the foot of Group F behind Sweden, the Netherlands and Japan after the opening round of fixtures.