World Cup latest: Tunisia head coach Sabri Lamaouchi sacked after heavy opening defeat to Sweden | football news

Tunisia have sacked their head coach Sabri Lamouchi after a heavy 5-1 defeat to Sweden in their opening game of the 2026 World Cup.

A statement on Instagram from the Tunisian FA said: “An agreement has been officially reached to sack coach Sabri Lamouchi.

“Plans are underway to appoint Monder Kebayer as national team coach (on an interim basis).”

Tunisia take on Japan in their second group game before facing the Netherlands on Saturday.

Lamauchi was appointed in January and took charge of just five games. His only win came in a 1-0 victory over Haiti, who opened their World Cup campaign against Scotland at the weekend.

The former Nottingham Forest boss was making his second World Cup appearance, having taken charge of the Ivory Coast in 2014 where they were knocked out in the group stage.

Lamauchi joins a select few to be sacked midway through the World Cup

Analysis from Sky Sports’ Callum Bishop:

On the one hand, this announcement is a shock. No one expects a manager to be sacked during the World Cup. However, those who follow Tunisia closely will know that there were rumblings of discontent when they lost 5-0 to Belgium in their final warm-up match.

More incredibly, this is history repeating itself for Tunisia. In 1998, they fired Henryk Kasperzak after a bad start. He was given at least two games, in both of which he failed to win.

Cha Bum-kun also lost his job with South Korea during the same tournament, while Julen Lopetegui was sacked after Spain announced him as Real Madrid’s new boss just two days before the 2018 World Cup.

Embarrassing as this may be, it’s not unprecedented, at least for Lamauchi.