Sweden and Tunisia meet in the 2026 World Cup Group F opener at Estadio BBVA in Guadalupe on Sunday, a fixture that pairs one of the tournament’s most productive forward lines against a defence that conceded zero goals in qualifying. Graham Potter’s Sweden bring the Arsenal striker Viktor Gyökeres and the Liverpool forward Alexander Isak, a pair that scored four of Sweden’s six playoff goals in March. Sabri Lamouchi’s Tunisia arrive with the back line that made them the first team in history to qualify for a World Cup without conceding a single goal.
The match kicks off at 10 p.m. ET (3 a.m. BST on Monday, 7 p.m. local) under Argentine referee Yael Falcón. Group F also includes the Netherlands and Japan, Sweden’s and Tunisia’s next two opponents in the group.
A Group F Opener Built on Two Different Problems
Sweden and Tunisia have both made it to the 2026 World Cup, but the routes could hardly look less alike. Sweden finished bottom of their qualifying group with two points from six games before reaching the tournament through the UEFA Nations League playoffs, where they beat Ukraine 3-1 and Poland 3-2 in successive ties. Tunisia, by contrast, topped their African qualifying group and became the first team in history to qualify for a World Cup without conceding a single goal.
The Group F schedule sends Sweden to face the Netherlands in Houston on June 20 and Japan in Dallas on June 25. Tunisia play Japan at Estadio BBVA on June 20 and the Netherlands later in the group. Sweden have progressed past the group stage in their last four World Cup appearances, and they have lost just two of their 12 opening World Cup matches in history, the last a defeat to Brazil in 1990. Tunisia have entered seven World Cups and never once stepped past the group stage, with three wins from 18 matches across six previous group exits.
Both teams know that winning the group would almost certainly mean a softer round-of-32 draw, while a third-placed finish might still be enough, per a Sports Illustrated preview. Fox Sports carries the match in the United States, ITV1 in the United Kingdom, TSN in Canada, and ViX in Mexico.
Sweden’s Long Road to the World Cup Opener
Sweden’s path to the tournament went through two coaches, two playoff ties, and one 88th-minute goal. The Swedes collected one point from their first four qualifiers under Jon Dahl Tomasson before the Dane was sacked in October 2025 after a 1-0 loss to Kosovo. Graham Potter, who had his coaching breakthrough at Swedish club Östersund between 2011 and 2017, was appointed a few days later and told Fotbollskanalen the job felt like “an incredible opportunity.”
Sweden finished with two points from six in the qualifying group and reached the playoffs only through the Nations League. They beat Ukraine 3-1 in Spain in the semi-final, with Gyökeres scoring a hat-trick. The final against Poland was tighter, with the visitors the better side for long stretches, before Gyökeres struck the 88th-minute winner in a 3-2 thriller.
It’s hard to explain, hard to describe. Just an incredible evening, just so proud to be part of that and obviously proud to experience that. It was just the best night I’ve had in football.
Graham Potter said that after the Poland game, per the Sweden team guide profiling Potter and the playoff run. The Swedish FA offered him a contract extension to 2030 in March, a sign of how quickly the mood around the team turned. He is expected to set up in a 3-5-2 with two strikers, the shape most previews project for the opener. Gustaf Lagerbielke, who scored a “thunderous header” in the playoff final against Poland, should start in the back three alongside Victor Lindelöf and Isak Hien.
The worry is at the other end of the pitch. Sweden have conceded in 11 consecutive fixtures heading into the tournament, including a 3-1 loss to Norway on June 1 and a draw with Greece in a warm-up. Alexander Isak, the £125 million Liverpool striker, has struggled for form and fitness since his record transfer from Newcastle, though he did score against Norway after coming off the bench. Dejan Kulusevski is out of the tournament with a long-term injury, removing one of Sweden’s most creative players.
Tunisia’s Record Defence and a New Coach Two Games Into the Job
Tunisia’s route to the World Cup was the inverse of Sweden’s: an unbeaten qualifying run built on clean sheets rather than goals. Under Sami Trabelsi, who had returned for a second stint as manager, Tunisia became the first team in history to qualify for a World Cup without conceding a single goal across 10 matches, all of them shutouts. Then came the Africa Cup of Nations, a round-of-16 loss to Mali on penalties, and Trabelsi’s dismissal. Sabri Lamouchi, the former France international who coached Ivory Coast at the 2014 World Cup, was appointed in January, per the Tunisia 26-man squad and Lamouchi’s appointment in charge, and has managed just two games before kickoff in Monterrey.
Lamouchi, 54, arrived in time for two pre-tournament friendlies, both losses: a 1-0 defeat to Austria in Vienna on June 1 and a 5-0 loss to Belgium in Brussels on June 6. He has barely had time to settle on a first XI, let alone the attacking combinations his team has historically lacked. The spine of the team is unchanged from the qualifying campaign: Ellyes Skhiri captains from midfield, Montassar Talbi and Omar Rekik form the central defensive partnership, and Ali Abdi plays at left-back for Nice in Ligue 1.
Hannibal Mejbri, the Burnley midfielder, was injured during the Austria friendly and is a doubt for the opener, per an ESPN preview. Without him, Lamouchi is short of a player who can turn a settled defensive block into a transition threat, the kind of role that is harder to fill on two training days. Rani Khedira, the Union Berlin midfielder and brother of the former Germany international Sami Khedira, has been added to the squad and is expected to start.
Where the Two Sides Are Vulnerable
The Group F opener is, in tactical terms, a question of which problem breaks first. Sweden’s 11-match run of conceding meets a Tunisian attack that has scored freely in qualifying only against modest opposition and drawn a blank in both June friendlies. Tunisia’s clean-sheet run was built against Namibia, Malawi, Equatorial Guinea, and other lower-ranked African sides, not against Premier League and Bundesliga strikers. Almost every Tunisian defender will face the highest level of opponent many of them have seen all season: Talbi at Lorient, Rekik at Maribor, Abdi at Nice.
For Sweden, the defensive issue is less about personnel than shape. Potter’s 3-5-2 requires the wing-backs Gabriel Gudmundsson and Alexander Bernhardsson to press high and recover into a back five, and Sweden have not kept a clean sheet in a competitive match since the playoff semi-final. The risk is that Potter’s attacking commitment leaves space in behind for Elias Achouri, Hannibal Mejbri, or whoever Lamouchi picks out wide. For Tunisia, the risk is the inverse: a deep block, a packed midfield, and an attack that has not scored in open play since November.
Predicted XIs and How the Matchups Could Settle It
One projection of Sweden lines up in a 3-5-2 with Benjamin Nygren as the most advanced of the five-man midfield, per the Sweden predicted XI and team news. A second preview’s projected Tunisia XI is a 4-5-1 with Khedira and Skhiri as a midfield three alongside Hannibal Mejbri. The Group F preview with both projected lineups sees Tunisia in a more ambitious 4-2-3-1, with Skhiri and Khedira holding and Mejbri pushed up to the No. 10 role.
The variations reflect a single argument: Lamouchi is not yet sure how attacking he wants his team to be. Sweden’s shape, by contrast, looks fixed: Lindelöf at the back, Gyökeres and Isak up top, and a midfield built to win the second ball and feed the front two. If Gyökeres finds the form he showed in the playoffs, Sweden have the individual talent to break a low block. If Mejbri is fit, Tunisia have the runner to test Sweden’s high line on the break.
The full-bore question is whether Potter’s commitment to attack can be sustained against a defence that has gone unbeaten across 10 qualifying matches.
| Position | Sweden (3-5-2) | Tunisia (4-5-1) |
|---|---|---|
| Goalkeeper | Kristoffer Nordfeldt | Abdelmouhib Chamakh |
| Defence | Gustaf Lagerbielke, Victor Lindelöf, Isak Hien | Yan Valery, Montassar Talbi, Omar Rekik, Ali Abdi |
| Midfield | Benjamin Nygren, Yasin Ayari, Alexander Bernhardsson, Gabriel Gudmundsson, Jesper Karlstrom | Hannibal Mejbri, Ellyes Skhiri, Rani Khedira, Elias Achouri, Khalil Ayari |
| Attack | Viktor Gyökeres, Alexander Isak | Firas Chaouat |
Key Battles Within the Match
- Viktor Gyökeres vs Montassar Talbi: Sweden’s leading scorer against Tunisia’s most experienced central defender.
- Alexander Isak vs Ali Abdi: The Liverpool forward against the Nice left-back in a pace and power test.
- Ellyes Skhiri vs Yasin Ayari: Tunisia’s captain against Sweden’s deep-lying playmaker in the midfield duel.
- Hannibal Mejbri vs Gabriel Gudmundsson: Tunisia’s playmaker against Sweden’s Leeds left wing-back, with and without the ball.
What Three Points Mean, and What No Points Would Cost
A Sweden win would put Potter’s side top of Group F after matchday one, with the Netherlands and Japan still to come. Sweden have made the knockout rounds in each of their last four World Cups, and a winning start would set up another run. A draw is not a disaster, but it would turn the Netherlands tie into a must-not-lose rather than a must-win.
For Tunisia, the calculus is more historical. The Carthage Eagles have entered seven World Cups and never once stepped past the group stage. Three points on Sunday would not break that streak on its own, with Japan and the Netherlands still to come, but it would set Tunisia up to chase the third-placed finish that might be enough to advance. A loss would leave Tunisia needing results in their next two matches, with little margin against a Japan side that drew 2-2 with the Netherlands in the group’s other opener, and a Netherlands side that remains the group favourite. The FIFA rankings put Sweden just above Tunisia, with seven places separating them, per a Sports Illustrated preview. The same outlet predicted a 1-0 Sweden win. The two sides have met three times in history, all in friendlies, the most recent a 1-0 Tunisia win in 2003. Group F resumes on June 20 in Houston and Guadalupe.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does Sweden vs Tunisia kick off?
The Group F opener kicks off at 10 p.m. ET on Sunday, June 14, 2026 (3 a.m. BST on Monday, June 15, 7 p.m. local time in Monterrey, Mexico).
Where is the match being played?
The match is at Estadio BBVA in Guadalupe, part of the Monterrey metropolitan area in Nuevo León, Mexico.
How can I watch Sweden vs Tunisia?
Fox Sports and fuboTV carry the match in the United States, ITV1 and ITVX in the United Kingdom, TSN in Canada, and ViX in Mexico.
Who is in Sweden’s and Tunisia’s squads?
Sweden’s 26-man squad was named by Graham Potter in early June and includes Alexander Isak, Viktor Gyökeres, Victor Lindelöf, and Yasin Ayari. Tunisia’s 26-man squad was named by Sabri Lamouchi and includes Ellyes Skhiri, Hannibal Mejbri, Montassar Talbi, and Rani Khedira.
Have Sweden and Tunisia met before at a World Cup?
No. Sweden and Tunisia have never met in a World Cup match. Their previous meetings were friendlies in 1992, 1999, and 2003.
