The Tunisia national football team began their preparations for the FIFA World Cup 2026 with a narrow 1-0 friendly defeat against Austria at the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna.
Luck was not on the side of the Carthage Eagles. Hannibal Mejbri and his teammates dominated early on, but the crossbar denied Tunisia two certain goals in a dramatic first half.
The Austrian national team played most of the match with ten men after Konrad Laimer was shown a straight red card in the 37th minute following a VAR review. Despite Tunisia’s numerical advantage and dominant possession, Austria managed to break the deadlock. Marcel Sabitzer scored the match-winner in the 63rd minute with a powerful strike from inside the penalty box.
❗️Marcel Sabitzer ouvre le score à 10 contre 11 face à la Tunisie 🇹🇳
📽️ @lequipe pic.twitter.com/iaGMANBXWz
— AFRII FOOT (@AfriiFoot) June 1, 2026
Tunisia’s World Cup 2026 Schedule and Group Stage Draw
Following the match in Vienna, the Tunisian squad will travel to Brussels to face Belgium next Saturday. They will then fly to Mexico to wrap up their warm-up games against Sweden on June 15th.
The World Cup 2026 draw has placed Tunisia in a highly competitive group alongside Japan, the Netherlands, and Sweden.
Meanwhile, Austria finds themselves in an equally challenging group that features reigning world champions Argentina, Algeria, and Jordan.
