APOEL replace Donis with Baltazar
As expected, APOEL have sacked Greek manager, Giorgos Donis, and have replaced him with 40-year-old Portuguese manager Bruno Baltazar.
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The last straw seemed to be APOEL’s recent 4-2 away defeat against Apollon, which saw APOEL fall out of first place in the Cypriot First Division standings. For Donis, this was his second stint as APOEL manager. He previously coached APOEL from 2013-2015, coaching them to a league championship in 2014. He was re-hired in July after APOEL’s disappointing loss to Viitorul in UEFA Champions League qualifying, taking over for short-lived Dutch manager Mario Been.
Expectations have become quite high at APOEL in recent years. The Nicosia giants have won the Cypriot championship the last 5 seasons, and 7 of the last 9 campaigns. In that time frame, the Cypriot side also made a memorable run to the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals in 2012.
With that domestic run now in jeopardy, APOEL have made the move to replace Donis with Bruno Miguel Nunes Baltazar. The Portuguese manager was coaching in Cyprus at AEL Limassol, but was fired less than three weeks ago. With APOEL now 3 points back of new leaders Apollon and just 7 matches remaining in the playoffs, Baltazar will have little room for error if he wants to get APOEL back on track and lead them to their sixth straight league title.
