Coaching

Mauricio Pochettino once said he would rather return to his ranch in Argentina than coach Barcelona, yet he is now the top candidate to be their next manager as they look to the future after Friday's 8-2 drubbing by Bayern Munich.

Quique Setien is certain to be sacked after Barca were humiliated in the Champions League quarter-final, a result which completed a miserable season, as for the first time since 2014 they failed to win a major trophy.

LONDON — Netherlands women's soccer team manager Sarina Wiegman will succeed Phil Neville as England Women's head coach from next year after signing a four-year deal, the Football Association (FA) announced on Friday.

The Dutch won the European Championship under Wiegman in 2017 and she also led them to their first World Cup final two years later in France, where they lost 2-0 to the U.S.

We all know the story of former USWNT coach Jill Ellis stepping down from her position in 2019 after winning back-to-back World Cups. Her endeavors after such a successful stint with the USWNT were uncertain for a while. Then, word had it that she was trying to coach the England women's national team. 

The NWSL is set to have two upcoming expansion teams in the league — one in Louisville, Kentucky, and one in Los Angeles. Both teams have stirred up quite a bit of excitement from fans. 

Julian Nagelsmann is the youngest head coach to take a team to the Champions League quarterfinals but any suggestion he or his RB Leipzig players will be out of their depth against Atletico Madrid should be quickly dismissed.

The 33-year-old will take the German upstarts into new territory on Thursday and admits a meeting with Atletico counterpart Diego Simeone will be a tough proposition.

Serie A champions Juventus stunned Italian football on Saturday by naming World Cup-winning midfielder Andrea Pirlo as manager on a two-year contract even though their former player has no previous experience in the role.

Pirlo, 41, was promoted to the senior job one week after being named coach of Juve's under-23 side, who play in the Italian third tier, and without having taken charge of a match. The decision came hours after the Turin club sacked coach Maurizio Sarri following their Champions League last-16 exit to Lyon on away goals on Friday.

Serie A club Juventus has sacked title-winning coach Maurizio Sarri after only one season in charge, following the team's elimination from the Champions League in the Round of 16 on Friday, the Turin club said in a statement.

The 61-year-old was dismissed despite leading Juventus to the Serie A title two weeks ago, the club’s ninth in a row.

Barcelona coach Quique Setien says he is not worried that Saturday's Champions League last-16 second leg at home to Napoli could be his last game in charge of the team.

Setien, 61, saw his side surrender the Spanish title to Real Madrid last month, while the tie with Napoli is on a knife edge after the 1-1 draw in Italy back in February.

When Inter Milan coach Antonio Conte faces the cameras after a match, it is a case of lighting the blue touch paper and standing well back.

In his first season at Inter, the 51-year-old former Juventus, Italy and Chelsea coach has railed against his own club's "poor planning" and an "insane" fixture list, and even blamed one poor performance on the opposition playing the wrong kind of football.

His latest outburst, however, after a 2-0 win at Atalanta on Saturday that clinched second place for Inter in Serie A, has led to all sorts of intrigue.