Football
Adriana Garcia 6y

Sporting sack new coach Sinisa Mihajlovic 9 days after hiring him

Sporting Lisbon have sacked coach Sinisa Mihajlovic just nine days after his appointment, the Portuguese club have announced.

Mihajlovic replaced Jorge Jesus on a three-year contract with the Lisbon-based outfit on June 18 by then-president Bruno de Carvalho, who was on Saturday voted out of office by 71 percent of the club's members after five years in charge.

New Sporting president Sousa Cintra confirmed the club has decided to terminate the 49-year-old Mihajlovic's contract in a news conference.

"The first thing that Mihajlovic did was to change the location for the first team's preseason camp," he said. "The truth is that this change has led Sporting CP to lose €300,000.

"In view of this, and considering he is still in the probationary period, Sporting CP has decided to terminate the contract of the coach, that is why he is out of our plans for next season. We will quickly seek a new coach, who should be presented by Monday.

"It will be an energetic coach that can add ambition to Sporting CP, fighting to be first. If anyone is convinced that Sporting has been weakened throughout this, they are mistaken. The club will present a team capable of fighting to be champions."

Former AC Milan and Serbia manager Mihajlovic said his main aim was to ensure that Sporting "have a better season than the previous one" but would have had a major rebuilding job on his hands.

Sporting endured a difficult campaign and in May suffered a shock 2-1 defeat by Aves in the Portuguese Cup final, a team that narrowly avoided relegation this season.

That loss came five days after players and staff were attacked by fans, who had allegedly been spurred by de Carvalho's public rebuke of the team.

Goalkeeper Rui Patricio, one of nine players to leave Sporting after the season because of the attack, accused club president Bruno de Carvalho of turning fans against the team in the aftermath of the incident, while De Carvalho suspended 19 players after a Europa League defeat to Atletico Madrid.

In April, de Carvalho criticised his players on social media, calling them "spoiled children."

Patricio joined Wolverhampton Wanderers earlier this month, while William Carvalho, Gelson Martins, Bruno Fernandes, Ruben Ribeiro, Bas Dost, Daniel Podence, Rafael Leao and Rodrigo Battaglia have also left.

Sporting, 18 times Primeira Liga winners, missed out on Champions League football this season after finishing third in the Portuguese league behind Benfica and champions FC Porto.

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