Struggling French Club Lyon Fires Coach after Less Than 3 Months in Charge

(FILES) Lyon's French head coach Fabio Grosso looks on during the French L1 football match between Brest and Lyon at the Francis Le Ble stadium in Brest, western France on September 23, 2023. (Photo by Fred TANNEAU / AFP)
(FILES) Lyon's French head coach Fabio Grosso looks on during the French L1 football match between Brest and Lyon at the Francis Le Ble stadium in Brest, western France on September 23, 2023. (Photo by Fred TANNEAU / AFP)
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Struggling French Club Lyon Fires Coach after Less Than 3 Months in Charge

(FILES) Lyon's French head coach Fabio Grosso looks on during the French L1 football match between Brest and Lyon at the Francis Le Ble stadium in Brest, western France on September 23, 2023. (Photo by Fred TANNEAU / AFP)
(FILES) Lyon's French head coach Fabio Grosso looks on during the French L1 football match between Brest and Lyon at the Francis Le Ble stadium in Brest, western France on September 23, 2023. (Photo by Fred TANNEAU / AFP)

Italian coach Fabio Grosso has been fired by Lyon after less than three months in charge of the struggling seven-time French champion.
Grosso was fired after just eight league games in charge, having being hired in September as a replacement for Laurent Blanc with the mission to put the team back on track.
Blanc left following a bad start to the season, with Lyon in last place with only one point from four games. The club remains bottom of the league after Grosso's departure, with seven points from 12 matches and just one win, The Associated Press reported.
The 46-year-old Grosso, who played 75 games for Lyon from 2007-09, had a contract until the end of the season. He was injured in October when the Lyon team bus was attacked by fans throwing stones after a game at Marseille, which left him bleeding from a cut to his face.
Lyon said Pierre Sage would be in charge of preparations for Lyon's match at Lens on Saturday.



‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
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‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)

The Paris Olympics look likely to get off to a soggy start.

Meteo-France, the French weather service, is predicting “flooding rains” Friday evening when the opening ceremony is set to unroll along the Seine River. But the show is set to go on as planned, starting at 1:30 p.m. EDT/7:30 p.m. CEST and should last more than three hours.

Already in the late afternoon, skies were gray with intermittent drizzle. There was a silver lining, though, with temperatures expected to stay relatively warm throughout the evening.

Instead of a traditional march into a stadium, about 6,800 athletes will parade on more than 90 boats on the Seine River for 6 kilometers (3.7 miles). Though 10,700 athletes are expected to compete at these Olympics, hundreds of soccer players are based outside Paris, surfers are in Tahiti and many have yet to arrive for their events in the second week, organizers said Thursday.

Hundreds of thousands of people, including 320,000 paying and invited ticket-holders, are expected to line the Seine’s banks as athletes are paraded along the river on boats.