Winless Servette Geneva sack coach
Top division football club Servette have sacked their coach after a dismal start to the Swiss championship.
The Geneva club, which brought in 17 new players for the start of the season, are currently bottom of the table with a points tally of minus two.
Docked three points for financial irregularities, the club have yet to win a game and trail leaders Thun by 14 points.
“The president, Marc Roger, and the coach, Marco Schällibaum, agreed that changes were necessary,” the club said in a statement on Monday.
The sacking came after Servette suffered their fifth Super League defeat on Sunday, losing 3-0 away to Neuchâtel Xamax.
It is Servette’s worst start to a season in almost 40 years, and Schällibaum said his dismissal was a logical consequence of the poor results.
“Five matches and only one point, that is not enough… I’m disappointed that I could not deliver the results after all the confidence Marc Roger put in me,” said Schällibaum.
He criticised certain players for undermining his position. His assistant, Adria Ursea, has taken over as caretaker manager.
Marc Roger
Servette escaped bankruptcy in February when Frenchman Marc Roger took over the Geneva club.
With the backing of Spanish investors and the French international, Claude Makelele, Servette boosted their budget to nearly SFr13 million ($10.5 million) for the current season.
The club bought 17 new players, including the former French international, Christian Karembeu, and Romania’s Viorel Moldovan.
Servette had high hopes of challenging the favourites, FC Basel. “We want to win the Swiss championship,” Marc was quoted as saying before the start of the season.
But the team are currently rooted at the bottom of the table after five defeats and only one draw in the league.
Servette had an equally disappointing start to their European campaign. Last week they lost the first leg of their Uefa Cup qualifying match away to Hungary’s Ujpest 3-1.
Schällibaum, who had been manager since summer 2003, led his team to third place in last year’s championship behind Basel and Young Boys of Bern.
He is the second coach of a Swiss top division team to be replaced, after FC Aarau sacked Martin Rueda.
swissinfo with agencies
Servette Geneva have sacked their coach, Marco Schällibaum.
Servette are currently bottom of the Super League after five defeats and one draw. They also lost last week in the Uefa Cup competition.
The club, which was saved from bankruptcy in February, signed 17 new players at the start of the season.
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