Ligue 1 club Stade Rennais on Thursday announced the sacking of head coach Jorge Sampaoli, with former Newcastle United defender Habib Beye taking over the hot seat in Brittany until the end of the season.
“By mutual agreement, Stade Rennais FC and Jorge Sampaoli, who was coach of the professional team, are ending their collaboration,” the club said in a statement on their Web site. “Stade Rennais FC are grateful for his commitment and respectful of his remarkable professional experience, and wish Jorge Sampaoli every success in his future career.”
Minutes after announcing the departure of the former Argentina national team head coach, Rennes published a second statement, saying Beye would take over with immediate effect.
Photo: AFP
“Habib Beye joins Stade Rennais FC until the end of the season, with predefined terms for a one-season extension. He will take charge of training on Friday, with his first task being to recreate a positive sporting dynamic,” the statement said.
The 47-year-old Beye played for English Premier League clubs Newcastle and Aston Villa, as well as French side Olympique de Marseille.
He was most recently coach of Red Star, successfully guiding the Parisian club to promotion to the French second division before stepping down.
His predecessor at Rennes arrived in November last year, but failed to revive the club, who lounge in 16th place in Ligue 1 — the relegation playoff spot.
Sampaoli, 64, managed his native Argentina at the 2018 FIFA World Cup having previously led Chile to the Copa America title three years earlier.
He left the dugout at Marseille in July 2022, walking out shortly after leading them to second place in Ligue 1 due to disagreements about transfer strategy.
Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team won bronze on Saturday at this year’s International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships in London, matching the country’s best-ever finish at the regular tournament. Consisting of Lin Yun-ju, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7, Feng Yi-hsin, Kuo Guan-hong, Hong Jing-kai and Hsu Hsien-chia, the team won bronze after losing 0-3 to Japan in the semifinals. In the opening match, 24-year-old Lin played the first game against world No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto 11-5, but ultimately lost the next three closely contested games 9-11, 10-12 and 10-12. Feng then faced world No. 8 Sora Matsushima in
Lin Yun-ju on Thursday handed Taiwan two key victories as they advanced to the semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. The Taiwan men’s table tennis team beat Sweden 3-2 in five singles matches. The 24-year-old Lin, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7 and nicknamed the “Silent Assassin,” opened the tie by defeating world No. 2 Truls Moregard 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) before clinching the deciding fifth match with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Anton Kallberg to hand his team the overall victory. Kuo Guan-hong put Taiwan up 2-0 with a 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11,
Taiwanese fire dancer Yang Li-wei advanced to the final of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend after receiving a Golden Buzzer during her live semi-final performance. Yang, a member of Taiwan’s Coming True Fire Group, awed judges and audiences with a high-intensity fire performance featuring flaming umbrellas, fire swallowing and spinning metal structures balanced with her legs. Judge Simon Cowell praised Yang as a star, while guest judge KSI reacted with amazement before pressing the Golden Buzzer, sending her to the finals. The dance group wrote on social media that the Golden Buzzer was “the highest honor” on the talent show, adding: “Twenty-three years
As Super Rugby fast approaches its playoff season it finds itself racing toward a reckoning with many issues that threaten the southern hemisphere tournament. A group of stakeholders met in the New Zealand city of Christchurch late last month to address problems that are making the future of the 31-year-old competition increasingly tenuous. The discussion was made more urgent by the decision by the owners of Moana Pasifika to fold the Auckland-based club for financial reasons. That followed the closure of the Melbourne Rebels at the end of the 2024 season, likewise because of financial difficulties. Problems addressed included player retention as more
RSS