Zaccheroni step down as Beijing Guoan's head coach

Beijing Guoan officially announced to sack its head coach Alberto Zaccheroni on Saturday after 3 days' negotiation with the Italian. He's assistant Xie Feng would be in charge of the new coaching staff.

Zaccheroni replaced Gregorio Manzano as the head coach of Beijing Guoan in January, but has endured a tough start in the CSL with only 2 wins in 9 games and ranked 10th place in the 16-team league.

After the 0-2 loss to Hebei China Fortune on Wednesday, some supporters gathered at Beijing's Workers' Stadium players and staff entrance, where they shouted "Zaccheroni out!". It was the second time such protest had happened.

Media reports on Thursday said Zaccheroni had been sacked and it took the club 3 days later to release the official statement.

"After friendly negotiation with Alberto Zaccheroni, we decide that he will step down as the team's head coach from today. We appreciate the days we work together and all his contribution to the team. We hope everything goes well with Zaccheroni and his team in the future," said in the statement.

Zaccheroni established himself as one of the world-class coaches in 1997/98 season when he led Udinese to the 2nd place in Italian Seria A. Then in the next season, he won the Seria A champion with AC Milan which was the highlight of his coaching career. He has also won the Asian Cup with Japanese men's national team in 2011.