Swiss team sacks 11 players after 10-0 defeat

A SWISS football team has taken the drastic step of firing 11 of its playing staff, after a crushing 10-0 defeat.

Players from FC Grenchen compete in a match earlier this year. Picture: Facebook

FC Grenchen, who play in the country’s third division, shipped 10 goals against Lucerne’s youth team, leaving them anchored to the bottom of the league with just five points from 14 games.

The club’s sporting director Renato Brun told Solothurner Zeitung: “It sounds brutal, but the players are not good enough for this league.”

One of the sacked players, Dedaj Dugagjin, told the newspaper that a list of names was put up at the club’s training ground, with the 11 players then forced to tidy their lockers.

He added: “This is completely ridiculous and borders on character assassination.”

Dugagjin went on to suggest that it wasn’t all the players’ fault if a team lost heavily.

But Brun and club manager Patrick Boesch received the backing of one of the club’s sponsors and committee members.

Rolf Probst said: “The club management do a super job. We don’t interfere in sporting decisions.”

FC Grenchen were formed in 1906, gaining promotion to the top league of Swiss football in 1937.

In 1959 they won the Swiss Cup - their only major title.