Coach wanted

Benfica dumps Ferreira after cup disaster

LISBON, Portugal (AP) -- Benfica is looking for its 13th coach in 10 years after firing Jesualdo Ferreira in the aftermath of a humiliating home defeat against a third division side in the Portuguese Cup.

The Lisbon club announced on its Web site late Monday it had fired Ferreira, who took over 11 months ago.

Ferreira's assistant Fernando Chalana, a former Benfica midfield great, was named caretaker coach.

Benfica lost 1-0 to tiny outfit Gondomarense in the first round of the Cup on Sunday. The club is lying joint third in the Portuguese Super League, seven points behind leader FC Porto.

Frontrunners for the job were Jaime Pacheco, who guided small northern club Boavista to the league title two seasons ago; Fernando Santos, a former FC Porto coach who left Greek club Panathinaikos earlier this month; and Brazilian Ricardo Gomes, a former Benfica player who won trophies as coach of Paris Saint-German.

The Benfica board prefers a foreign coach, according to sports dailies A Bola and Record.

They said Brazilian Vanderlei Luxemburgo and Irishman David O'Leary, a former Leeds United coach, were also on a shortlist.

Whoever takes over will face a tough task: the once-great club which won consecutive European Champions Cup titles in the 1960s and brought Eusebio onto the world stage hasn't won a domestic trophy since the Portuguese Cup in 1996.

Pressure from fans has forced out 12 coaches since 1992, including Germany's Jupp Heynckes, former Liverpool coach Graeme Souness and Croatia's Tomislav Ivic.

Financial woes at the Estadio da Luz (Stadium of Light) have also undermined efforts to revive the team's fortunes.

Toni Oliveira, the last coach to win the championship for Benfica, in 1993-94, described Benfica as "a coaches' cemetery."

 

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