Tunisia coach Sabri Lamouchi pays the price for 5-1 football defeat to Sweden in Group F opener at World Cup 2026.

Sabri Lamouchi has been sacked by Tunisia after just one game of World Cup 2026.

The 54-year-old former France international was sacked the day after Tunisia’s 5-1 trouncing by Sweden in their opening Group F football game in Monterrey, Mexico, on Sunday night.

Tunisian officials have installed Mondher Kebaier, who led the national team from 2019 to 2022 and has been in a technical director role since last year, as interim boss ahead of the second group game against Japan in the early hours of Sunday, also in Monterrey.

The 56-year-old previously guided the Eagles of Carthage to the final of the Arab Cup in 2021, losing to Algeria, before a quarterfinal exit in AFCON the following year.

Speaking before his departure, Lamouchi said his side had been punished for a string of costly mistakes and after the game admitted: “It’s a difficult loss. It’s painful. Starting the competition with ⁠this bad of a loss is indeed difficult.

“We made way too many mistakes.”

Lamouchi was already under pressure after a 5-0 defeat to Belgium in the team’s final warm-up game, while he has been forced to defend the presence of his son during their training camp in the media despite him not being an official member of the party.

Tunisia will face Japan and the Netherlands, who played out a pulsating 2-2 draw in their opening match in Dallas on Sunday, in ⁠their final two group fixtures, and Lamouchi said: “We have our pride. We need to react. We need to give a better image.”

Lamouchi, who holds dual Tunisian and French citizenship, represented clubs including Auxerre, Monaco, Parma, Inter and Marseille during his playing career before his first role in management saw him guide Ivory Coast to the 2014 World Cup, beating Japan in their first game only to exit in the group stage after a dramatic late defeat against Greece in their final game.

It was a second chapter of World Cup heartache for Lamouchi, who was cut from the final France squad for World Cup 1998 by coach Aime Jacquet, missing out on a place in history as Les Bleus claimed their first title on home soil.

He went on to manage Rennes and Nottingham Forest before short stints in Qatar, with Cardiff City and in Saudi Arabia before being appointed by Tunisia in January on a two-and-a-half-year contract following a disappointing Africa Cup of Nations campaign.