Tunisia World Cup 2026: Can Eagles of Carthage finally qualify?

Tunisia are one of the most experienced African sides to compete at the World Cup, with 2026 being their seventh appearance. However, they are yet to get past the group stages and face a really tough looking Group F.

Netherlands, Japan and Sweden lie in wait for the Eagles of Carthage, so can they finally progress to the knockout stages? Below you can find my Tunisia World Cup 2026 preview, with all the latest odds, squad news and predictions. 

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Goalkeepers: Sabri Ben Hessen (Etoile Sahel), Abdelmouhib Chamakh (Club Africain), Aymen Dahman (CS Sfaxien).

Defenders: Ali Abdi (Nice), Adem Arous (Kasimpasa), Mohamed Amine Ben Hamida (Esperance), Dylan Bronn (Servette Geneva), Raed Chikhaoui (US Monastir), Moutaz Neffati (Norrkoping), Omar Rekik (NK Maribor), Montassar Talbi (Lorient), Yan Valery (Sheffield Wednesday).

Midfielders: Mortadha Ben Ouanes (Kasimpasa), Anis Ben Slimane (Norwich City), Ismael Gharbi (FC Augsburg), Rani Khedira (Union Berlin), Mohamed Hadj Mahmoud (Lugano), Hannibal Mejbri (Burnley), Ellyes Skhiri (Eintracht Frankfurt).

Forwards: Elias Achouri (FC Copenhagen), Khalil Ayari (Paris St Germain), Firas Chaouat (Club Africain), Rayan Elloumi (Vancouver Whitecaps), Hazem Mastouri (Dynamo Makhachkala), Elias Saad (Hannover 96), Sebastian Tounekti (Celtic).

Manager: Sabri Lamouchi

Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane and Ferjani Sassi miss out on selection through injury but Hannibal Mejbri, Yan Valery and Dylan Bronn all made the squad, despite missing the March internationals through injury.

Former Nottingham Forest and Cardiff City manager Sabri Lamouchi was appointed in January following a disappointing Africa Cup of Nations campaign, that saw Tunisia lose in stoppage tome to Mali in the round of 16.

Since then, Lamouchi has left out some established names and blooded untested talent in the two friendly internationals against Haiti and Canada. They showed great defensive organisation and resilience in keeping two clean sheets but only managed a solitary goal, courtesy of Celtic winger Sebastian Tounetki, to pick up a narrow win over the Haitians.

World Cup Odds

They will likely be doing plenty of defending in Group F, against three attacking sides in Netherlands, Japan and Sweden and will look to build off that defensive security and hope to attack on the break.

The Eagles of Carthage have been frankly abject in previous World Cup campaigns, winning just three games from a possible 18 matches across the years and never once qualifying from their group. However, they did look impressive in their qualification campaign, finishing top with nine wins from 10 and didn't concede a single goal.

They are clearly going to be hard to break down but a severe lack of goal threat at the top end could see them struggling to progress yet again.

Group F Fixtures:

14 June 8pm local (15 June 3am BST) - vs Sweden (Monterrey)

20 June 10pm local (21 June 5am BST) - vs Japan (Monterrey)

25 June 6pm local (26 June 12am BST) - vs Netherlands (Kansas City)

Key Player: Elias Achouri

If the Tunisians are going to score then theres a fair chance it could come via the trickery and pace of FC Copenhagen winger Elias Achouri. This will be the 27-year-old's first World Cup but he has shown in his time in Denmark the ability to create and score goals and has already notched five times for the national side.

Football Odds

Prediction: Finish bottom of Group F

This looks one of the harder groups of the 12 and whilst Tunisia are clearly resolute at the back, I don't think it will be enough against teams with attacking flair like Holland, Japan and Sweden.

They may pick up a point via a huge defensive effort against the Swedes but I doubt that will be enough to see them progress to the latter stages.