Underachieving Udinese have appointed Giuseppe Iachini as their new head coach on a two-year deal.
The 52-year-old was most recently in charge of Palermo, who on Sunday finished 17th in Serie A – just one place above Udinese – after going through seven different managers in one season.
Udinese employed only two bosses, Stefano Colantuono and Luigi De Canio, but endured a similarly fraught campaign and have now opted to start afresh with a view to climbing the table in 2016-17.
Werder sack sports director Eichin
Former Bundesliga champions Werder Bremen have sacked sports director Thomas Eichin five days after securing their Bundesliga spot on the final match of the season, replacing him with former long-time captain Frank Baumann, the club said yesterday.
Werder struggled for yet another season, needing a last-gasp goal to beat Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 on Saturday and make sure of another season of top-tier football.
“We had different outlooks in our talks for the sporting future and that ultimately triggered the decision to place the sports direction into other hands,” Werder board chairman Marco Bode said in a statement.
Remi says will be fit King’s Cup final
Adil Rami has reassured Sevilla fans he will be fit for the King’s Cup showdown against Barce-lona after a “muscle spasm” forced his withdrawal from the Europa League final victory over Liverpool on Wednesday.
The France international defender left the contest in Basle with 13 minutes remaining but expects to start against double-chasing Barcelona on Sunday.
“It was just a muscle spasm and it was impossible to move,” Rami told Spanish sports newspaper AS.
“It was better for me to come off but I don’t have a serious injury. I will be able to play in the final... We want more.”
Tiago inks one-year Atletico extension
Portuguese midfielder Tiago has signed a one-year contract extension that will keep him at Atletico Madrid until June 2017.
The 35-year-old has made 163 appearances since arriving at the Vicente Calderon stadium from Juventus in 2010.
“The truth is that I’m very pleased to be able to stay another year at this great club, be with this family, these great players,” Tiago said on the club’s website.
Tiago fractured a fibula in November and only returned to action last Saturday to help Atletico to a 2-0 win over Celta Vigo in the final La Liga match of the season.
Hughton rewarded with four-year deal
Chris Hughton has signed a new four-year contract with Brighton & Hove Albion two days after they missed out on promotion to the Premier League.
The 57-year-old has been rewarded for a season in which they were denied automatic promotion on goal difference after finishing third in the Championship before losing 3-1 on aggregate to Sheffield Wednesday in their semi-final play-off.
“Chris thoroughly deserves this new contract after such an outstanding season,” chairman Tony Bloom said.
“He has done an exceptional job since he took over as manager.”
Doping test leads to tumour diagnosis
Eintracht Frankfurt captain Marco Russ has been diagnosed with a tumour after he had initially tested positive in a routine doping test, the Bundesliga club said yesterday.
The club were informed of the positive test on Wednesday with Germany’s anti-doping agency (NADA) suspecting that the high levels of growth hormone HCG found in the sample were due to illness rather than the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Further tests by the club revealed they were indeed due to a tumour, Frankfurt said, without disclosing the location of the growth.
Puma sees Leicester shirt demand soar
German sportswear firm Puma has seen sales of Leicester City shirts rise fifteen-fold as a result of its winning the English Premier League title, chief executive Bjoern Gulden told a German paper.
Puma has provided the kits for Leicester, who were 5,000-1 outsiders at the start of the season, since 2012.
“The fans love such stories – the underdog coming from behind and pulling off something unlikely,” Sueddeutsche Zeitung quoted Gulden as saying.
“The demand for jerseys has risen by fifteen-fold,” he said.
Gulden did not say, however, whether Puma would pay more money to Leicester as a result of the title win.
“Our contract runs for another two years. Of course we’re talking to them about how we can be more successful together.”