Tunisia hires Herve Renard to replace fired coach at World Cup

June 16 (UPI) — Tunisia hired Herve Renard to replace fired coach Sabri Lamouchi at the 2026 World Cup, the Tunisian Football Federation announced Tuesday.

The federation announced Monday that Lamouchi’s contract was terminated. He coached Tunisia to a 5-1 loss to Sweden in a Group F opener at the World Cup on Sunday in Guadalupe, Mexico.

Tunisia hired Lamouchi in January. He was fired by Saudi club Al-Diriyah in December. Lamouchi, who played professionally from 1990 through 2009 in Italy, France and Qatar, also coached Nottingham Forest, Cardiff City and for the Ivory Coast national team, among other teams.

Renard, who played from 1983 through 1998 in France, previously coached several national teams, including Saudi Arabia, Morocco, the Ivory Coast, Zambia, Angola and the French women’s team.

Saudi Arabia, who earned a 1-1 draw with Uruguay on Monday in their World Cup opener, fired Renard in April.

Tunisia, the No. 56 team in the FIFA world rankings, will battle No. 17 Japan in their second Group F match at noon EDT Sunday in Guadalupe. They will face the No. 8 Netherlands in their group stage finale June 25 in Kansas City, Mo.

The Tunisians sit in last place in Group F, which is led by Sweden (1-0-0). Japan (0-0-1) and Netherlands (0-0-1) are tied for second.