Inter fires Stramaccioni, hires Mazzarri
Inter Milan fired coach Andrea Stramaccioni on Friday and hired Walter Mazzarri as his replacement, five days after concluding the Serie A season with a highly disappointing ninth-place finish.
Inter bid Stramaccioni goodbye in an official announcement on its website and said it had signed Mazzarri to a two-year deal.
Mazzarri stepped down as Napoli manager last weekend.
Having never coached in Serie A before, Stramaccioni was hired in March last year to replace the fired Claudio Ranieri. He led Inter to a sixth-place finish last season but this campaign has been marred by a series of injuries, including serious setbacks for key players Diego Milito and Javier Zanetti, the club's 39-year-old captain.
Stramaccioni's contract was due to expire in 2015.
Only 36 when he was hired, Stramaccioni was one of the youngest coaches to manage in Serie A.
Inter lost 5-2 to Udinese in its last match of the season and went winless in its last five games.
The Nerazzurri lost as many matches, 16, as it won this campaign.
The 51-year-old Mazzarri has just led Napoli to a second-place finish and a spot in next season's Champions League. He has coached Napoli for the past four seasons, having previously been in charge at Livorno, Reggina and Sampdoria.