Former Ballon d’Or and World Cup-winning defender Fabio Cannavaro has been sacked as head coach by Dinamo Zagreb.
Fresh off a shock 3-0 defeat to Istra 1961, Cannavaro’s reign at the club has been cut short while Dinamo’s title hopes hang by a thread.
Managing the club for just 14 games while recording seven wins, two draws, and five losses, the club plummeted to eight points drift of league leaders Hajduk Split with eight games remaining.
Lifting 20 of the most recent 25 league titles, the risk of Dinamo falling short to their eternal rivals Hajduk looms large – who have not been crowned league champions since the 2004/05 season.
This news is certainly not the first time that an Italian star coach has grabbed the headlines this HNL season, with Hajduk’s Gennaro Gattuso recently involved in a heated exchange with pundit and former Hajduk and Dinamo midfielder, Joško Jelačič.
While assistant Sandro Perković has been announced as caretaker, Dinamo will be searching to determine who will permanently take charge of the club.
Croatian national team assistant and ex-Dinamo defender Vedran Ćorluka has been tipped as a favourite for the role, reportedly having been interviewed for the role by club leaders.
Beyond Ćorluka, Chinese national team coach and ex-Dinamo boss Branko Ivanković is certainly a strong contender, while his assistant and ex-Dinamo player Mario Tokić could pose an interesting option.
Dinamo prepare for an interesting period of fixtures to come, quickly transitioning from taking on the league’s lowest placed sides to their competitors at the top of the table.
Facing Osijek, Šibenik and Gorica in their next three fixtures, Perković will be provided with a period to get up to speed as head coach, coming up against the current bottom three sides in the league table.
Following this three-game period, Dinamo take on second-placed Rijeka, first-placed Hajduk and fourth-placed Slaven consecutively – a run of games that will likely determine the outcome of the season for the Croatian giants.