Fabio Cannavaro’s reign at Guangzhou Evergrande appears to be all but over after the eight-time Chinese Super League champions ended the season under the Italian head coach without silverware.
The most successful team in recent Chinese soccer history were on Friday dumped out of the Asian Champions League in the group stage, compounding a poor campaign by their standards.
Soon after, Evergrande said that they were changing their structure so that a general manager would have the “main responsibility,” instead of the head coach.
In a subsequent announcement, also on the club’s Web site, it said that veteran international midfielder Zheng Zhi would become general manager.
There was no mention of Cannavaro, 47, who guided Evergrande to the Super League title last year, but his head coach post appears to now have no power.
Chinese media speculated that a stumbling block to sacking Cannavaro outright is compensation. The 2006 World Cup-winning captain reportedly has two years left on a deal that pays him 12 million euros (US$14.55 million) per year.
In his second stint as Evergrande coach, Cannavaro has been in charge since November 2017.
However, despite him taking them to an eighth Super League crown last year, some fans have never been convinced by the Italian as a manager.
In October last year, following a poor run of results, the former Real Madrid and Juventus defender was similarly moved aside for the 40-year-old Zheng, who is a player and assistant to Cannavaro.
On that occasion, Cannavaro was ordered to attend “corporate culture training,” but he returned after a stint away to lead Evergrande to the title.
If Cannavaro is sacked this time, it would be his second dismissal following a failed spell at the club in the 2014-2015 season.
Cannavaro’s team, led by the Brazilian midfielders Anderson Talisca and Paulinho, surrendered their Super League crown last month with defeat over two legs to Jiangsu Suning.
A weakened team went out in the second round of the Chinese FA Cup and their Asian Champions League title assault ended when Suwon Bluewings beat Vissel Kobe in the final group-stage game on Friday.
Guangzhou won the continent’s top club competition in 2013 under Cannavaro’s mentor Marcello Lippi.
They replicated that success two years later when Brazilian Luiz Felipe Scolari was coach.
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