Tunisia have sacked their head coach Sabri Lamouchi and appointed Hervé Renard until the end of the World Cup, after losing their opening game 5-1 to Sweden.

Former Nottingham Forest manager Lamouchi had only taken over in January and was in charge for just five matches, but he has become the first coach to be dismissed after a single game of a World Cup finals.

A statement from the Federation Tunisienne de Football announced the “termination of its contractual relationship” with Lamouchi by mutual agreement. Renard will bring World Cup experience having led Saudi Arabia to a surprise 2-1 win over eventual champions Argentina in Qatar, and he also took charge of Morocco in 2018. The 57-year-old has also managed Ivory Coast, Zambia and Angola at international level.

The Tunisia statement 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 will be in the dugout for Tunisia’s remaining Group F fixtures against Japan and the Netherlands. The thrashing by Sweden left the Eagles of Carthage bottom of their group, with Japan their next opponents in Monterrey (Sun 5am BST/midnight EDT kickoff).

It is the second time that Tunisia have removed a manager during a World Cup after Henryk Kasperczak was sacked following two defeats at the finals in France in 1998.

Speaking after the defeat by Sweden, Lamouchi admitted it had been a “painful” experience. “Starting the competition with this bad of a loss is indeed difficult,” he said. “We made too many mistakes, and this is not something that we can do. We are shooting ourselves in the foot, we are hurting ourselves.”