After losing 5-1 to Sweden in the early hours of Monday, it was clear the Tunisians weren’t happy with their coach, Sabri Lamouchi, in what many of them called an embarrassing result.
Before midday, they announced the coach’s sacking just after one game in the World Cup. Now this has got a lot of people asking why sack a coach during tournaments, and if it has happened before?
Well, the answer is that yes, it has happened before, and these are the five times a coach has been sacked during a tournament.
1. Jean-Louis Gasset — Ivory Coast (AFCON 2023)
Ivory Coast suffered a shocking 4-0 defeat to Equatorial Guinea in the group stage. Gasset was dismissed before the knockout rounds, with assistant coach Emerse Faé taking charge. Following this personnel change, Ivory Coast then produced a miracle run, beating Senegal, Mali, DR Congo, and Nigeria, going on to win the title.
2. Carlos Alberto Parreira — Saudi Arabia (World Cup 1998)
The 1994 World Cup-winning coach with Brazil was fired after Saudi Arabia lost their first two matches in the 1998 World Cup and were eliminated. Saudi Arabia ended up finishing bottom of their group.
3. Henryk Kasperczak — Tunisia (World Cup 1998)
Look who we have here, Tunisia! Clearly, Tunisia is no stranger to sacking managers mid-tournament. After two defeats from two matches against England and Colombia ended Tunisia’s hopes in 1998, the federation sacked Kasperczak before the final group game.
4. Cha Bum-kun — South Korea (World Cup 1998)
Image Credit: TheseFootballTimes
A 5-0 defeat to the Netherlands proved too much for South Korean officials in the 1998 World Cup (isn’t it funny that we have three entries from 1998 on here? What a strict year.) Cha was dismissed before the team’s final match. South Korea failed to win a single game at the tournament.
5. Julen Lopetegui — Spain (2018)
Lopetegui was asked 2 days before Spain’s first World Cup game in Russia. He was sacked after accepting the Real Madrid job without properly informing the Spanish federation. Spain rushed to appoint Fernando Hierro as a last-minute replacement.
Despite the chaos, Spain still progressed to the Round of 16 but was eliminated by host nation Russia on penalties.
