عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Sports

Barcelona Fires Coach Setién 3 Days after 8-2 Loss to Bayern

Barcelona fire coach Quique Setién. (AFP)
Barcelona fire coach Quique Setién. (AFP)
TT
TT

Barcelona Fires Coach Setién 3 Days after 8-2 Loss to Bayern

Barcelona fire coach Quique Setién. (AFP)
Barcelona fire coach Quique Setién. (AFP)

Barcelona fired coach Quique Setién on Monday, three days after the team’s humiliating 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals of the Champions League, the first step in what it said would be “a wide-ranging restructuring" of the club.

The decision was announced after an urgent board meeting summoned by president Josep Bartomeu in Barcelona.

The club also announced new elections for March 2021 and said “profound changes” were coming for the first team.

A replacement to Setién was not immediately announced but Spanish media said Dutch coach Ronald Koeman was the front-runner to take charge. The former Barcelona defender was reportedly already in Barcelona.

Barcelona said “the new coach will be announced in the coming days as part of a wide-ranging restructuring of the first team.”

The new elections next March means that the board will “assume full responsibility regarding the 2020-2021 financial year.”

“The club will continue to implement the plan to reverse the sporting and economic situation, based on profound changes to the first team, plus a redefined budget to deal with the new situation caused by COVID-19, before the end of the current mandate,” Barcelona said in a statement.

Bartomeu, who was heavily criticized for his club management recently, has been at the club’s helm since 2014.

Most Viewed

 
 
Sports

Workers Take Down Olympic Rings from Eiffel Tower – for Now

Tourists sit on the Olympic rings displayed in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, on September 27, 2024. (Photo by Thomas SAMSON / AFP)
Tourists sit on the Olympic rings displayed in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, on September 27, 2024. (Photo by Thomas SAMSON / AFP)
TT
TT

Workers Take Down Olympic Rings from Eiffel Tower – for Now

Tourists sit on the Olympic rings displayed in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, on September 27, 2024. (Photo by Thomas SAMSON / AFP)
Tourists sit on the Olympic rings displayed in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, on September 27, 2024. (Photo by Thomas SAMSON / AFP)

Workers removed the Olympics logo from the Eiffel Tower in the early hours of Friday, returning the beloved monument to its familiar form -- but perhaps only temporarily.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has promised to build new Olympic rings and return them to the landmark as a tribute to the hugely successful Olympic Games held in the capital during July and August.

The proposal has polarized opinion in the French capital and has been criticized by descendants of the tower's designer Gustave Eiffel, as well as conservation groups.

After initially suggesting the new rings should be permanent, Hidalgo has proposed they remain on the city's world-renowned symbol until the next Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.

Workers operating multiple large cranes removed the 30-tonne steel rings from between the first and second floors of the tower during the early hours of Friday morning.

They were first installed just under four months ago, on June 7, and will now be melted down and recycled.

The new rings, which the International Olympic Committee is expected to pay for, would be lighter versions of the originals and less prominent, according to a deputy Paris mayor, Pierre Rabadan.

"In my opinion, it would be better to put them somewhere else because it's a Parisian monument and it's not right that it becomes an advertising medium for an event that is now over," Hugo Staub, a French tourist at the tower on Friday, told AFP.

Culture Minister Rachida Dati, a longtime critic and opponent of Hidalgo, has also cast doubt over the idea, saying the mayor's proposal would need to respect procedures protecting historic buildings.

But others felt regret at losing a visual reminder of an enchanted period in Paris and expressed support for the idea of replacements.

"They were a bit large so it's better to put small ones that can remain for a few years," said Gabriel, a French volunteer at the Games, who was at the foot of the tower on Friday. "It would be symbolic and a great souvenir."