Lamouchi sacked after just one match: Tunisia in an almost unprecedented situation

Sabri Lamouchi lasted just one match on Tunisia’s bench at the World Cup. The Tunisian Football Federation ended his tenure following the heavy defeat to Sweden (5-1) in the group stage’s opening day. The 54-year-old coach becomes one of the rare head coaches to be sacked after a single match in a major international competition.

The closest precedent comes from the same national team. In 1998, at the World Cup held in France, Henryk Kasperczak was sacked after two consecutive defeats by the Carthage Eagles — 2-0 to England, then 1-0 to Colombia. Ali Selmi then took over the team for the final group match against Romania.

The 1998 World Cup remains an edition particularly marked by swift dismissals. South Korean head coach Cha Bum-kun suffered the same fate, sacked after the second group match following a humiliation by the Netherlands (5-0). In the same tournament, Carlos Alberto Parreira was also dismissed after Saudi Arabia’s first two defeats.

Only Julen Lopetegui can claim an even earlier departure: the Spaniard was sacked by the Spanish Football Federation on the eve of the 2018 World Cup kickoff, without having played a single minute of the competition. The Lamouchi case, meanwhile, falls into a separate category — that of coaches sacrificed on the opening day of a group stage — which appears to be truly unprecedented at this level.