Former Juventus player Stephan Lichtsteiner has been fired

Stephan Lichtsteiner’s tenure as Basel’s coach has already come to an end. The former Juventus fullback, who took the reins of the Basel team last January, paid the price for last Sunday’s loss to Lugano, and club officials decided to make a coaching change by firing him.

In 27 matches, the former Swiss international had averaged just 1.22 points per game. After seven games this season, his Basel team had 10 points, trailing the league-leading Lugano by eight points.

“After seven league matchdays and, more recently, two consecutive home losses, the sports management of FC Basel 1893 had to make a very difficult decision,” reads the statement from Basel, “ since the developments and improvements hoped for in recent weeks and months in the day-to-day management and growth of the team have not materialized as expected, the club is forced to terminate its collaboration with head coach Stephan Lichtsteiner effective immediately.”

“The sports management, and I in particular, believed in this long-term project and were convinced of Lichtsteiner’s abilities. At the same time, however, this confidence was tied to the expectation that, in the medium term, we would see clear sporting progress and a visible trend toward improvement. Unfortunately, in recent weeks we have not observed this trend toward improvement. We lacked confidence that the situation could change within a reasonable timeframe.”

Lichtsteiner’s position will be temporarily filled by assistant coach Luigi Noccentini, while Lichtsteiner’s assistant, Mario Cantaluppi, is also leaving the team. “The club would like to expressly thank Stephan Lichtsteiner for taking on the responsibility during a difficult phase and for approaching this role with great dedication and meticulousness.”