Football
ESPN staff 9y

FIFA: Claudio Ranieri sacked by Greece after Faroe Islands defeat

Claudio Ranieri has been sacked from his role as manager of the Greece national team after a humiliating 1-0 defeat to minnows Faroe Islands on Friday night, according to FIFA.

The Euro 2004 winners have managed just one draw in their four Euro 2016 qualifiers to date and fell to Faroe Islands' first victory since 2011, resulting in a wave of criticism for the former Chelsea boss.

A statement from the Greece Federation on the FIFA website read: "There was no other option than to terminate the contract."

According to world football's governing body, the Italian will remain at the helm for the friendly match against Serbia on Tuesday, but will then depart. On Friday night, Greece had hinted that a change would be imminent.

"Following this devastating result for the national team, I take full responsibility for the most unfortunate choice of Coach, which has resulted in such a poor image of the national team being put before the fans," wrote HFF President Giorgos Sarris on the Federation website.

"The governing board will convene and take responsibility among all the members to make the necessary changes needed to avoid a repeat of such an embarrassing night."

Ranieri, 63, admitted after the game that he had no idea how his side had lost.

"I have no words to explain what happened," he said in a post-match news conference. "We all wanted to record our first victory in the group. But the Faroese deserved to win as they created more chances to score. Only hard work can get us out of this situation.

"When the qualifiers started nobody believed we would find ourselves in this situation. We were wrong in believing that was a straightforward group for us. All defeats hurt equally, but we must leave results in the past and work our way out of this situation.

"We are last in our group because that is what we deserve. The Coach is always responsible for that. Back in September, most of my players were low on form following the World Cup, but this week during training I saw my players very lively and motivated. That's why I am very surprised about the result."

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