Ole: Argentinian Football Association fires Jorge Sampaoli

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Argentina’s Ole on Saturday said that the country’s Football Association (AFA) has fired Jorge Sampaoli as the manager of their men’s national soccer team. So far there has been no official confirmation of the news.

Ole said that AFA agreed to pay Sampaoli two million US dollars for his departure. This number was much lower than expected. According to his contract, AFA is supposed to pay as much as 20 million dollars to Sampaoli as severance fee if they want to fire him after the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Sampaoli was blamed for Argentina's disappointing performances at the 2018 FIFA World Cup. /VCG Photo

According to AS, AFA previously said that Sampaoli would start coaching the country’s U20 team for the L'Alcudia international tournament in Spain in July. However, Sampaoli turned down the offer, leading to negotiations between his representatives and AFA over terminating the contract.

Tencent Sports said that during the negotiation, AFA President Claudio Fabian Tapia directly raised a question to Sampaoli’s lawyer: How much will it take to cancel the contract? Finally, the two sides reached an agreement on two million dollars.

Lionel Messi has worked with eight managers in the 13 years since his first play for Argentina in 2005. /VCG Photo

Sampaoli was appointed as manager of Argentina’s men’s national soccer team in 2017 summer after rising to the fame by leading Chile to their first champion of Copa America in 2015. However, both him and his team were hugely disappointment at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. Having lost a 0-3 humiliating match against Croatia, the team barely made it out of Group D before being kicked out by France.

Sampaoli was the eighth manager Lionel Messi has worked with in the national team since he made his debut for Argentina in 2005 under Jose Pekerman. Multiple media outlets wrote that AFA might need to find a manager with a steady position before they can explore a better future for the team.