Former Real Madrid and Italy defender Fabio Cannavaro has been sacked by Dinamo Zagreb after just 14 matches as head coach.
Cannavaro won seven of his matches in charge of the Croatian club before the announcement of his departure on Wednesday.
Among his matches in the dugout, Cannavaro’s side suffered a 3-0 defeat to Arsenal in the Champions League. The former Inter defender also led the to a 2-1 win away at Milan in the league phase, and missed out on a play-off spot to Club Brugge on goal difference.
Dinamo said they thank Cannavaro, 51, for his “great effort, commitment and friendliness” throughout his tenure, wishing him luck in his “future sporting and life journey”.
The club confirmed assistant coach Sandro Perkovic would assume the role of head coach for the remainder of their season.
In November 2024, The Athletic reported Cannavaro was in talks to become Deportivo La Coruna’s new head coach. The former Italy international, who was capped 136 times during his playing career, then joined Dinamo on December 29.
Cannavaro’s departure follows a 3-0 defeat to NK Istra 1961 on Saturday. Dinamo are third in the Croatian top-flight, eight points behind leaders Hajduk Split. Cannavaro’s side were also knocked out of the Croatian Cup at the quarter-final stage following a 1-0 defeat to Osijek.
Dinamo have been the dominant Croatian side this century, winning 20 of the most recent 25 league titles.
A former Ballon d’Or and World Cup winner, Cannavaro has previously taken charge of Quanjian, Al Nassr and Guangzhou Evergrande. He also took temporary charge of China, before stints with Benevento and Udinese in Italy.
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