China on brink of sacking women's football coach
Saturday, 15 March 2008
BEIJING, Mar 14 (AFP): China's football association has proposed sacking Olympic women's football coach Elisabeth Loisel as it looks to revive the team's chances of home-town Games glory, state press said Friday.
A proposal handed to the sports ministry on Thursday includes the option of keeping the Frenchwoman on as head coach through the Beijing Olympics but also offers alternatives, the Titan Sports Weekly said.
Besides proposing three domestic coaches, the China Football Association also suggested giving the job to Serbian coach Bora Mulitinovic, who led the Chinese men to their only appearance in the World Cup finals in 2002.
The English-language China Daily newspaper went further, saying that the China Football Association had decided that Loisel must go.
Loisel has endured a fractious relationship with her players and officials during her five months in the job and the controversy came to a head after China finished ninth place in the just ended Algarve Cup in Portugal.
China's sports authority was expected to make a decision as early as Monday next week.
It was not immediately clear if Mulitinovic was interested in the job, but Titan said that Loisel's predecessor, Swedish coach Marika Domanski-Lyfors turned down a request to return to the Chinese side in recent days.
Domanski-Lyfors terminated her contract with the Chinese side in October last year amid reports over disputes with association bureaucrats.
Loisel, who is currently in France, said Monday she was still waiting for a response from the association on her future.
A proposal handed to the sports ministry on Thursday includes the option of keeping the Frenchwoman on as head coach through the Beijing Olympics but also offers alternatives, the Titan Sports Weekly said.
Besides proposing three domestic coaches, the China Football Association also suggested giving the job to Serbian coach Bora Mulitinovic, who led the Chinese men to their only appearance in the World Cup finals in 2002.
The English-language China Daily newspaper went further, saying that the China Football Association had decided that Loisel must go.
Loisel has endured a fractious relationship with her players and officials during her five months in the job and the controversy came to a head after China finished ninth place in the just ended Algarve Cup in Portugal.
China's sports authority was expected to make a decision as early as Monday next week.
It was not immediately clear if Mulitinovic was interested in the job, but Titan said that Loisel's predecessor, Swedish coach Marika Domanski-Lyfors turned down a request to return to the Chinese side in recent days.
Domanski-Lyfors terminated her contract with the Chinese side in October last year amid reports over disputes with association bureaucrats.
Loisel, who is currently in France, said Monday she was still waiting for a response from the association on her future.