Felice Mazzu is no longer coach of Sporting Charleroi. The 58-year-old trainer is thus paying the price for the Carolo’s disastrous season, in which they had to secure a place in the Jupiler Pro League through the play-downs. Frank Defays will take over for the time being, pending a new coach. That new coach could well be Rik De Mil. Discussions have already been started with the ex-coach of Westerlo.
A meeting was already scheduled for Monday between Mazzu and the board, but strongman Mehdi Bayat wanted to give himself another 24 hours to make a decision. In addition to Bayat, David Helmer, the new American investor, was also (digitally) present at the meeting on Tuesday evening. On Tuesday Mazzu still gave training to the group of players. Afterwards, the trainer was told that his story with the Walloon club was finally over.
Mazzu had returned to work at Charleroi at the end of 2022, after his dismissal from Anderlecht. He was previously successful at Charleroi between 2013 and 2019, but he never came close to those previous successes in the past two seasons. After Ronny Deila and Rik De Mil, Mazzu is already the third coach in three days to be fired in our highest division.
In the search for a successor, Charleroi has now ended up with Rik De Mil. The coach was only recently released at Westerlo after the salon draw against KRC Genk. There were already discussions with De Mil. Whether an agreement will actually be reached will remain to be seen in the coming days.