AFC Asian Cup costs nine soccer managers their jobs

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The AFC Asian Cup, which climaxes on Friday with the final between Japan and Qatar, has seen the departure of nine national team coaches.

The latest one to go is Alberto Zaccheroni who chose to leave his position with the UAE after his team lost 4-0 to Qatar in a semi-final on Tuesday.

Milovan Rajevac was sacked as manager of Thailand's men's national soccer team. /VCG Photo

Unlike Zach who decided his own fate, two managers lost their jobs because they failed to help their teams meet their countries' expectations. After an upset 4-1 group loss to India on January 6, Thailand's manager Milovan Rajevac was sacked by a furious Football Association of Thailand.

Syria in Group B finished their first two matches with a disappointing 0-0 tie against Palestine and a 2-0 loss to Jordan. As a result, the team's manager Bernd Stange was fired by the Syrian Arab Federation for Football.

Stephen Constantine, former manager of India's men's national soccer team. /VCG Photo

Though having claimed the first big upset at the 2019 Asian Cup, India also became the first eliminated team of the event after they lost to UAE (2-0) and Bahrain (1-0). The manager Stephen Constantine then resigned.

Juan Antonio Pizzi quit after Saudi Arabia were knocked out by Japan in round-of-16 and Carlos Queiroz said goodbye to Iran after his team lost to Japan 3-0 in the second semi-final.

Sven-Goran Eriksson, former manager of the Philippines men's national soccer team. /VCG Photo

Three other managers followed Zaccheroni's lead. Sven-Goran Eriksson said goodbye to the Philippines national team after they lost all three matches in Group C; after Bahrain were eliminated by South Korea 2-1 in round-of-16, Miroslav Soukup turned down a contract extension offered by Bahrain FA and left and Marcello Lippi made the same choice after China lost to Iran 3-0 in the quarter-final.

(Top image: Alberto Zaccheroni, former manager of the UAE's men's national soccer team. /VCG Photo)