Archive for Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Hugo Sanchez, who earned an estimated $8 million during his short tenure as coach but could not get his team to the Olympics, is ousted. The search for a replacement is underway.
Mexico soccer Coach Hugo Sanchez was relieved of his duties today after only 15 months on the job.
During a three-hour meeting in Mexico City, owners of the Mexican soccer league decided that Sanchez was not the right man to lead Mexico into the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, which begin later this year. The move comes after Mexico, under Sanchez, failed to advance past the regional Olympic qualifiers earlier this month in Carson.
Mexico named as its interim coach Jesus Ramirez, who was coach of Mexico’s U-17 club that won the World Cup several years ago.
The search for Sanchez’s successor will begin immediately.
Sanchez was one of the world’s highest-paid soccer coaches, earning an estimated $8 million during his short tenure as coach. His predecessor, Ricardo LaVolpe, earned almost $10 million in his four years on the job.
Most of Sanchez’s money was earned outside of his monthly salary, which was about $100,000 a month. But according to reports in Mexico, Sanchez also pocketed a percentage of sponsorship deals, ticket sales, promotional events and merchandising. Overall, Sanchez took home $1.5 million in salary, plus an estimated $6.2 million in side deals, according to Mexican newspaper El Economista.
On the field, though, the results were mixed for Sanchez. He led Mexico to a third-place finish in Copa America last year, but Mexico did not win the Gold Cup and did not qualify for the 2008 Olympics.
Overall, Mexico was 14-8-4 in 26 games under Sanchez.
Early reports say that Mexico will seek a proven coach on the international level. Among the names mentioned are Luis Felipe Scolari, who coached Brazil to its 2002 World Cup title and whose contract with Portugal runs out this summer; Marcello Lippi, who coached Italy to the title two years ago in Germany; and Jose Perkerman, who coached Argentina two years ago and is currently the coach of Toluca in the Mexican soccer league.
Another name that has been mentioned is former Mexico coach Javier Aguirre, who is currently the coach of Atletico Madrid in Spain.
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