World Soccer - UK (2019-12)

EUROPE

Bayern Munich parted company

with last season’s double-winning coach

NIKO KOVAC following a 5-1 defeat at

Eintracht Frankfurt which left the side

fourth in the Bundesliga.

Udinese dismissed coach IGOR

TUDOR following a 7-1 defeat at

Atalanta and a 4-0 loss at home

to Roma in Serie A.

La Liga strugglers Celta Vigo sacked

coach FRAN ESCRIBA after losing at

home to Getafe.

CRAIG LEVEIN was sacked as

Hearts manager and will not return to

his director-of-football role with the club.

He will, however, remain with the Scottish

Premiership strugglers until the end of

the season in order to “develop and

improve the structure of the backroom

and youth operations”.

“The truth is that Cristiano

Ronaldo hasn’t dribbled [past] an

opponent for three years”

Fabio Capello on the Juventus star, subbed by

coach Maurizio Sarri in successive games

Last season’s Belgian champions

Genk sacked their title-winning

coach FELICE MAZZU after they

lost three of the first four games in

their Champions League qualifying

group and won only six out of 14

domestic league games.

He was replaced by former

Hamburg boss HANNES WOLF.

Jorge VERGARA (1955-2019)

The Mexican billionaire businessman built

Guadalajara, also known as Chivas, into

one of Mexico’s leading teams. He took

control of the club in 2002 and under

his ownership they won the 2006 Liga

Apertura, the 2017 Liga MX-Copa MX

Clausura double as well as the 2018

CONCACAF Champions League. He also

attempted to expand the Chivas brand by

founding MLS club Chivas USA in 2004,

though the franchise folded in 2014,

and owned Costa Rican club Deportivo

Saprissa from 2003 until 2011, a

period when they won the CONCACAF

Champions Cup and competed in the

2005 Club World Championship.

Anatoly KRUTIKOV (1933-2019)

The last surviving member of the Soviet

Union side that won the first European

Nations Cup in 1960, he played most

of his career

for Spartak

Moscow,

winning the

Soviet League

and Cup, and

was coach

when they

were relegated

in 1976.

OBITUARIES

SOUTH AMERICA

DIEGO MARADONA quit Argentinian

side Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata after

less than three months as coach.

CONCACAF

RICARDO LA VOLPE left his position

as coach of Mexican club Toluca.

MLS side Chicago Fire sacked coach

VELJKO PAUNOVIC.

AFRICA

South Africa’s record scorer BENNI

McCARTHY was sacked as coach of

top-flight strugglers Cape Town City.

Young Africans of Tanzania sacked

coach MWINYI ZAHERA after defeat in

the CAF Confederation Cup play-offs.

ASIA

MARCELLO LIPPI resigned as coach

of China, while Indonesia parted

company with SIMON McMENEMY.

PHIL YOUNGHUSBAND, who holds

the goals and games record for the

Philippines, with 52 in 108 appearances,

announced his retirement at 32.

Genk part company

with Mazzu

GLOBAL FOOTBALL INTELLIGENCE

Dismissed...Igor Tudor

Replaced...Felice Mazzu

Resigned...

Marcello Lippi

Appointments, sackings and loans