After winning seven trophies in 18 months as head coach of Brazilian side Flamengo, you would think that Filipe Luis’ job was untouchable. And you’d surely double-down on that notion after Flamengo had gone out and thrashed Madureira by a scoreline of 8-0 – sweeping into the final of the Carioca, which is the state league of Rio de Janeiro.
But you’d be wrong: just hours after that comprehensive victory, at 1am in the morning no less, Luis was given his P45. Harsh? Well, here’s the facts… you can judge for yourself.
London Calling
As is often the case in football management, it all comes down to a question of loyalty. According to reports, Luis was amenable to the idea of replacing Liam Rosenior as head coach of Strasbourg after he had agreed to make the switch to BlueCo stablemates Chelsea.
The Brazilian, who played for the Londoners during the 2014/15 season, reportedly spoke with Chelsea owner Todd Boehly and his BlueCo colleagues about the vacant position. The Flamengo hierarchy, headed by president Luiz Eduardo Baptista, are said to be furious that Luis didn’t speak to them first about his interest in the switch to France.
According to reports, Baptiste apparently felt ‘deceived’ that his head coach would sound out a new employer behind his back. The Mengão have not got off to the best starts this season, winning just one of their opening three games and losing in consecutive cup finals. But you might think that Luis, with seven trophies in 18 months, would be given more time given his past endeavours – aside from those BlueCo chats, of course. A club statement reads:
Filipe Luis will no longer be in charge of the professional team. Ivan Palanco (assistant coach) and Diogo Linhares (physical trainer) are also leaving the club along with him.
The Brazilian would later retort that ‘I leave at peace, with my head up high and a clear conscience.’ And so for all Luis’ successes at Flamengo, which include winning the Brazilian Serie A and Copa Libertadores – essentially the South American version of the Champions League – he was gone.
We would like to thank Filipe Luís for his dedication, hard work and achievements throughout his time as coach. We wish him all the best moving forward in his career. pic.twitter.com/jOJ3KNEDz9
— FL4MEN9O (@Flamengo_en) March 3, 2026
In the space of just 48 hours, Flamengo had already appointed his successor – the former Monaco and Sporting Lisbon head coach Leonardo Jardim.
The Harshest Sackings in Football
Let’s face it: football isn’t always a sport known for its rational, well-thought-out decision making. As a sport, it’s passionate and emotional. As a business, it’s fine margins and often expensive. No wonder the relationship between managers, owners, boards of directors and fans can be volcanic in nature – leading to snap decisions, often illogical in nature, being made. And so, in that spirit, here’s a look at some of the harshest managerial sackings in football history.
Claudio Ranieri (Leicester City)
Sometimes, a manager – despite their successful recent past – is sacked because results turn… and they turn on their players. José Mourinho won the Premier League and League Cup with Chelsea in 2014/15, but was sacked just months later when telling the press his players had ‘betrayed’ him – grounds for divorce, you might say.
But for Claudio Ranieri, whose Leicester City wrestled the Premier League crown from Mourinho’s Chelsea in extraordinary fashion, that situation wasn’t quite replicated. He was loved by the fans at the Foxes, so even when the 2016/17 season didn’t quite go to plan – Leicester were in genuine peril of relegation, the feeling was that the Italian was untouchable.
But not in the mind of the club’s owner. In February 2017, less than a year after Leicester’s 5,000/1 Premier League title win masterminded by Ranieri, he was sacked. However, the plot later thickened. According to media reports, some of the Leicester players wanted Ranieri gone – apparently meeting with the club’s senior officials in private to demand the Italian be sacked. What a sad end to a scarcely-believable period in Leicester City’s history.
Fabio Capello (Real Madrid)
Another Italian who can consider themselves hard done by – not once, but twice – is former Real Madrid head coach Fabio Capello. He had two stints in charge of the Galacticos, each lasting a single season (1996-97 and 2006-07). In each case, Capello guided Real to the La Liga title. In each, he was sacked just weeks after the trophy hoist.
His first spell in charge was synonymous with the Galacticos era, but it was testament to Capello’s ability that he was able to make blend his superstars – he green lit the signings of Roberto Carlos, Clarence Seedorf, Davor Suker and co – into a winning team.
Capello was sacked immediately after, but would return to the Bernabeu a decade later. This time, with the Madrid outfit experiencing one of the worst trophy droughts in their history, Capello was able to galvanise his players and land another La Liga title on the last day of the 2006/07 campaign. Of course, this wasn’t good enough for the club’s hierarchy – bemoaning Capello’s conservative playing style, they sacked him just eleven days after he had lifted the trophy.
Jupp Heynckes (Real Madrid)
It’s somewhat ironic that the head coach that replaced Capello at the end of his first tenure in Madrid also makes our list. Jupp Heynckes, one of the most revered coaches in German football, made the move to Real in June 1997 – just days after Capello had exited stage left.
His first assignment was winning the Spanish Super Cup against Real’s bitter rivals Barcelona. It wasn’t all plain sailing for Heynckes thereafter, as an early exit from the Copa del Rey – allied to a lowly fourth-place finish in La Liga – would ultimately cost him his job.
But in the meantime, he would also mastermind Real Madrid’s first Champions League triumph in more than 30 years – back in the days that the tournament was known as the European Cup. Real defeated Juventus 1-0 in the 1997 final, which was the first time they had got their hands on the famous trophy in 31 years. Alas, it meant little for the career prospects of Heynckes, who was fired just weeks later.
