Mid-table Cagliari fires Ficcadenti in shock move

Published Nov. 8, 2011 10:22 p.m. ET

foxsports

Mid-table Cagliari surprisingly fired Massimo Ficcadenti late Tuesday, the seventh coach sacked in Serie A since the preseason and the second by the Sardinian club.

Cagliari president Massimo Cellino fired Roberto Donadoni in August and replaced him with Ficcadenti before the season began.

Having lost 1-0 at Atalanta on Sunday, Cagliari is 10th in the 20-team Serie A, eight points behind leader Juventus.

No replacement was immediately announced in the brief announcement on Cagliari's website, although the Gazzetta dello Sport reported that Davide Ballardini will be rehired.

Ballardini previously coached Cagliari in the second half of the 2007-08 season, helping the club avoid relegation. He also coached the club briefly at the start of the 2005-06 season before being sacked.

After Donadoni's dismissal, Palermo sacked Stefano Pioli before this season began, then Inter Milan fired Gian Piero Gasperini in September, Bologna got rid of Pierpaolo Bisoli at the beginning of October, Cesena threw out Marco Giampaolo last week and Fiorentina fired Sinisa Mihajlovic on Monday.

''Italian football is overheated, there's less and less patience,'' Italian coaches association president Renzo Ulivieri told Sky TV earlier. ''A manager needs time and often that's not allowed.''

Roma coach Luis Enrique, hired by the club's new American owners to lead a youth movement, has also been under pressure.

''I hope (Roma's) project goes well. It's a big undertaking, and the merit goes mostly to (Roma's new sporting director Walter) Sabatini,'' Ulivieri said. ''Italian football needs something new to measure itself against.''