Tunisia football chiefs call in Renard to take charge of World Cup campaign
Lamouchi took over from Sami Trabelsi in January after he paid the price for his Tunisia's sloppy performances at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco even though he had overseen their unbeaten journey through the African qualifiying tournament.
However, under Lamouchi's leadership, Tunisia have won only one of their five matches, a 1-0 victory over Haiti in March.
A Tunisia football federation statement released on social media said Lamouchi's contract had been terminated by mutual agreement. The 54-year-old former France international midfielder is the second Tunisia boss to lose his job during a World Cup.
In 1998, the federation sacked Henry Kasperczak after two games for his failure to steer the team out of the group stages.
Renard gets new chance
Renard, 57, takes up the post two months after he was dismissed as head coach of Saudi Arabia after guiding them to the 2026 World Cup.
He is expected to join the Tunisia squad on Tuesday to start preparations for their second game in Group F against Japan on Sunday in Monterrey.
The Tunisians, who qualified for the tournament from the African confederation without concedinga goal, have not reached the group stages at the World Cup in their six previous appearances.
Higher expectations
The expansion from 32 to 48 teams and the creation of a last-32 round for the top two sides from the 12 groups and the eight best third-placed sides had raised expectations of progress to the second phase.
The Tunisian federation added: “The agreement [to appoint Renard] also states to open negotiations after the end of participation in the World Cup, for long-term cooperation based on specific sporting goals.”
Renard came to prominence during the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations as an assistant coach to the Ghana boss Claude Leroy.
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He spent two years as Zambia coach before leaving for Angola in 2011. He returned to Zambia in 2011 and led them to glory at the Africa Cup ofNations in 2012 in Gabon.
Three years later, he repeated the feat with Cote d'Ivoire to become the first coach to take two different sides to the continent's most prestigious national team tournament.
During the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Renard was in charge of the Saudi Arabia team that beat Argentina 2-1 in the opening game of the group stages.
Saudi Arabia were eliminated after losses to Poland and Mexico while Lionel Messi and his teammates marched on tolift the cup.