The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsFabio Capello has been dismissed from his position as head coach of the Russian national side after three years in charge.
The 69 year old, who signed a four year contract extension last year, had managed just eight points from six Euro 2016 qualifiers and are now in danger of failing to qualify.
His tenure during the 2014 World Cup was also a catastrophe as his side were knocked out in the group stages without recording a single victory.
The Russian Football Union (RFU) said it had “reached an agreement to terminate his contract by mutual consent”. In addition, they are yet to name a successor, but the acting president Nikita Simonyan said the replacement will be revealed later this month.
“By the end of July we should sort out who the new head coach should be,” Simonyan said. “It is possible that he could combine the role with club management till the end of qualifying for Euro 2016.“
“We are looking at a few candidates – Leonid Slutski, Yuri Semin, Kurban Berdyev, Gadzhi Gadzhiev, Alexander Borodyuk, Stanislav Cherchesov.”
Slutski remains the favourite, and has been some time, but he is currently in charge of CSKA Moscow. “No one has contacted me about the national team,” the 44 year old said on Monday. “In theory I am ready to train even the national team of Mars, but what is the point in talking about this? If I get an offer, then I will look at it.”
Semin is currently at Anzhi Makhachkala, whilst Berdyev and Gadzhiev are with Rostov and Amkar Perm respectively. Borodyuk was an assistant to both Guus Hiddink and Dick Advocaat whilst they were in charge of the national side, while Cherchesov has recently quit Dynamo Moscow.
With Russia currently in 3rd in Group G of the Euro 2016 qualifiers and due to host the next World Cup in 2018, it will be an important decision for the RFU to find the right manager.
