Gennaro Gattuso sacked as FC Sion manager

Former Italy midfielder Gennaro Gattuso has become the fifth coach to be sacked by Swiss side FC Sion this season.

The 35-year-old was dismissed following Saturday's 5-0 defeat at St Gallen and will be replaced by the club's under-21 coach Michel Decastel.

Ex-AC Milan man Gattuso joined Sion as a player at the start of the season and was appointed player-coach in February.

The club took 10 points from his 11 league games in charge and are fifth in the 10-team Swiss Super League.

But they are only a point adrift of fourth-placed FC Zurich, who occupy the final European qualification spot, and have five matches remaining.

Decastel's promotion marks his second time in charge of the team this season.

Sebastien Fournier started the campaign as manager and was replaced by Decastel, 57, in September. Pierre-Andre Schuerman, Victor Munoz and Gattuso followed him into the role.

Sion club president Christian Constantin has employed around 30 coaches since returning to the club in 2002.

During that period, the two-time national champions have won the Swiss Cup on three occasions - their last success coming in 2011. But they have not won the league title since 1997.

Sion have also demoted eight players to the reserve squad and replaced them with players from the under-21 side.

The eight have not been named and it was not immediately clear if Gattuso is one of those players dropped.