Tunisian football is in a state of turmoil following the heavy defeat suffered by the "Eagles of Carthage" against Sweden (1-5) in the opening match of their 2026 World Cup campaign, after the Tunisian Football Federation issued a contradictory statement regarding the future of coach Sabri Lamouchi.
The federation published a post on its official Instagram account on Monday evening announcing that a "formal agreement" had been reached to dismiss the French-Tunisian coach, before deleting the post shortly afterwards, deepening the uncertainty surrounding the fate of the technical staff.
Despite this, Lamouchi continued his duties as normal at the team's base in the city of Monterrey, where he led Tunisia's training session the day after the heavy defeat that had heightened doubts about the team's readiness at the World Cup.
Lamouchi, who was appointed last January, had been facing mounting criticism even before the tournament kicked off, particularly following a series of unsatisfactory friendly results — most notably a heavy 0-5 loss against Belgium — which had intensified pressure on the technical staff ahead of the opening match.
According to the same post that was subsequently deleted, the federation had been planning to appoint coach Mondher Kebaier on a temporary basis to lead the national team for the remainder of the tournament, pending an official resolution of the technical situation. At the same time, some sources close to the Tunisian national team indicated that Lamouchi had refused to resign, insisted on attending the training session, and that there was a rift among members of the Tunisian Football Federation's board of directors.
Tunisia now faces a tough test in their next two fixtures against Japan and then the Netherlands, at a time when technical stability appears to be one of the most pressing challenges threatening the team's World Cup campaign.