World Cup manager sackings: how many teams have changed coaches mid-tournament?

Tunisia’s 2026 World Cup campaign has been thrown into turmoil almost before it even began. Head coach Sabri Lamouchi has been fired by the Tunisian federation after the North African nation was thumped 5-1 by Sweden in their Group F opener on Sunday.

Lamouchi, who earned 12 caps for France between 1996 and 2001, had only taken charge of the team in January, losing three of his five games in the dugout. Fellow Frenchman Hervé Renard, who has previously coached Morocco and Saudi Arabia at the World Cup, will look to turn Tunisia’s tournament around against Japan and the Netherlands as Lamouchi’s replacement.

A rare World Cup reset

It is not the first time a head coach has been fired mid-World Cup, and it is not even the first time Tunisia have pulled the trigger.

The African nation is one of three teams that have previously decided a change was needed before they had played their final game of the tournament. Ironically, all three previous instances took place during the 1998 World Cup, after the teams in question had already been eliminated with one game still to play.

Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Tunisia changes

Four years after the high of winning the World Cup on home soil with Brazil in 1994, Carlos Alberto Parreira had an entirely different experience in France with Saudi Arabia. He was fired after a 4-0 defeat to the hosts, which followed a 1-0 loss to Denmark. Mohammed Al-Kharashy led the Saudis to a 2-2 draw in their final group game, a dead rubber against South Africa.

After a 3-1 defeat to Mexico and a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of the Netherlands, South Korea dismissed Cha Bum-kun, a legendary former player. Caretaker Kim Pyung-seok then guided the team to a 1-1 draw against Belgium in their final group match.

And, of course, Tunisia themselves also made the call, parting ways with Polish coach Henryk Kasperczak after a 2-0 defeat to England and a 1-0 loss to Colombia. His replacement, Ali Selmi, managed a 1-1 draw against Romania in their final group game.

The only resignation at a World Cup

Only one manager has ever resigned mid-World Cup. That distinction belongs to Scotland’s Andy Beattie in 1954.

Heading into the tournament, Beattie had already been unhappy with the Scottish Football Association, which had only allowed him to select 13 players in his squad. A 1-0 defeat to Austria in Scotland’s opening game proved the final straw. Beattie stepped down and was replaced by a selection committee for the second and last group game, which ended in a 7-0 thrashing against Uruguay.

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