2026 World Cup Qualifying: New Tunisia coach Sami Trabelsi names his first squad

Recently hired Tunisia head coach Sami Trabelsi has named his first squad as manager before the Carthage Eagles take on Liberia and Malawi in fixtures from 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying this month. Tunisia travel to Liberia to face the Lone Stars on March 19 before hosting Malawi in Tunis on March 24.

Trabelsi and his Eagles are expected to fly through a rather weak Group H with the new manager inheriting a favorable situation. The North African nation have a two-point lead in the group ahead of second placed Namibia with Liberia, Malawi, Equatorial Guinea as well as minnows São Tomé and Príncipe also in the group.

2026 World Cup Qualifying: Group H table (4 matches played)

Despite their strong position, a period of concerning results under former coach Faouzi Benzarti and interim coach Kais Yaâkoubi to conclude 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying has Tunisian supporters expecting more from their team.

Trabelsi is calling in a mixture of foreign-based players and top performers in Tunisia’s top flight Ligue 1 Professionnelle. An experienced midfield group is the greatest strength with Ellyes Skhiri (Eintracht Frankfurt, Germany) and Aïssa Laïdouni (Al Wakrah, Qatar) the stars.

The presence of Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane (Ferencváros, Hungary), Hannibal Mejbri (Burnley, England) and former Zamalek star Ferjani Sassi (Al Gharafa, Qatar) create some difficult decisions for Trabelsi regarding his midfield selection.

In the defense, Dylan Bronn returns to the group to join a group led by the likes of fellow central defender Montasser Talbi and OGC Nice left back Ali Abdi.

After a period of appearances as the “goalkeeper of the future”, Espérance de Tunis shot stopper Amanallah Memmiche has been dropped under the new leadership following some notable errors for club and country. In a goalkeeping group composed entirely of domestic-based options, CS Sfaxien’s Aymen Dahmen appears most likely to get the nod.

It will be interesting to see who Trabelsi uses from his forward corps. Sayfallah Ltaief (Twente, Netherlands), Elias Saad (St. Pauli, Germany) and Elias Achouri (FC Copenhagen) are younger options based abroad who have yet to fully prove themselves with the Carthage Eagles. Hazem Mastouri (US Monastir) and Firas Chaouat (Etoile du Sahel) are currently the most in form strikers in the Tunisian top flight and Qatar-based veteran Naïm Sliti returns to the selection after being left out for over a year.