Losing 5-1 to Sweden in your opening World Cup group game is the kind of result that rarely leads to business as usual the next morning. Tunisia moved swiftly. Within hours of Sabri Lamouchi being relieved of his duties following the Monterrey defeat, the Tunisian Football Association had announced his replacement, and the name they chose is one of the more recognisable in African and international football management.
Herve Renard takes over as Tunisia head coach for the remainder of World Cup 2026, with the 57-year-old French manager stepping into one of the more challenging emergency appointments in recent international football memory. He comes with genuine World Cup pedigree having been in charge of Saudi Arabia at the previous tournament in Qatar, where he oversaw that famous win over Argentina in the group stage that became one of the most talked-about upsets in the competition’s modern history. Nobody who watched that game needs reminding what Renard is capable of when he gets a squad believing.
The task ahead of him is steep. Tunisia sit bottom of Group F after matchday one with a goal difference of minus four. Japan are next up on 20 June, also in Monterrey, and they’ll be fresh from a 2-2 draw against the Netherlands. Japan will come into that match with confidence and structure, and Tunisia need a result immediately to keep any knockout stage hope alive.
Lamouchi’s own words after the Sweden defeat were honest. He acknowledged that starting the tournament with a loss of that magnitude is extremely difficult, that Tunisia made too many individual errors, and that the quality of the Swedish forwards, specifically Viktor Gyokeres and Alexander Isak, was the kind of combination you don’t recover from once they get in behind you. The Tunisia Football Association clearly felt the result and the manner of it required an immediate change rather than a continuity approach heading into the remaining group fixtures.
Renard’s appointment comes with a clause for potential extension beyond the tournament. That detail is worth noting because it suggests the Federation aren’t simply bringing him in as a firefighter for two matches. If results improve and there’s a basis for a longer working relationship, the door is open. Whether Renard can transform a squad that conceded five in one hour against Sweden into something competitive enough to beat Japan and then face the Netherlands is the question the whole of Group F will be watching play out.
Tunisia’s World Cup story has taken a dramatic turn before the first week of the tournament is even finished. If you want to follow every remaining Group F match live, including Tunisia’s must-win clash with Japan on 20 June, a reliable IPTV subscription gives you live access to all 104 World Cup 2026 matches from any device, any broadcaster, any language.
Herve Renard has pulled off surprises before at this tournament level. Tunisia need him to do it again, and they need it fast.