Liverpool, England
The Dutchman was dismissed two months into his second season in charge following a 5-2 loss to Arsenal on Sunday.
The team has eight points so far in the league and is faring no better in Europe, sitting last in its Europa League group.
Everton returned to continental competition by finishing seventh in the Premier League last season and Koeman benefited from about $198 million in spending to strengthen the squad in the offseason to take the club to new highs.
Gylfi Sigurdsson and Davy Klaassen cost almost $92.5 million between them, and striker Wayne Rooney was brought back from Old Trafford on a high-profile free transfer. But Everton didn’t adequately replace Romelu Lukaku, who was sold to Manchester United for $99.1 million and has struggled for goals this season, netting only six in the league.
Another 55 million pounds was spent on goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and defender Michael Keane, yet Everton has conceded 18 goals in nine league games and only last-place Crystal Palace has a worse goal difference. Now Everton is searching for a new manager to steer the club out of the drop zone.
“Chairman Bill Kenwright, the board of directors and major shareholder Farhad Moshiri would all like to express their gratitude to Ronald for the service he has given to the club over the past 16 months and for guiding the club to seventh place in last season’s Premier League campaign,” Everton said in a statement.
Koeman, a former Barcelona player who joined Everton after impressing as Southampton manager, is the third Premier League coach to lose his job this season after Frank de Boer at Palace and Craig Shakespeare at Leicester.
Ronaldo Wins Fifth FIFA Player of Year Award
London
The Real Madrid forward was crowned player of the year on Monday at the FIFA Best ceremony at the London Palladium theater attended by runner-up Messi and third-placed Neymar.
A second successive honor for Ronaldo was expected after a season in which the Portuguese eclipsed his award counterparts in the trophy stakes.
As well as Spanish league and Spanish Super Cup success, Ronaldo scored twice in the Champions League final against Juventus to win European soccer’s elite competition for the third time in four seasons.
Ronaldo’s coach at Madrid, Zinedine Zidane, was crowned coach of the year.
FIFA has shifted its award ceremony from its usual January slot to October so players are judged across a season — based on the typical European schedule — rather than the calendar year.
The women’s award honored the Netherlands’ success at the European Championship in August. Lieke Martens, who scored in the final win over Denmark, won the player’s award and Sarina Wiegman collected the coaching accolade.
The Puskas Award for best goal went to Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud for a scorpion-style kick. The Puskas Award-winning goal from an overhead back-heeled strike came on New Year’s Day in Arsenal’s 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace in the English Premier League.
MLS All-Star Game To Atlanta in ’18
Atlanta
Major League Soccer announced Monday that its 2018 All-Star Game will be held at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, one day after Atlanta United set records for single-game and season attendance.
“We’re honored,” United owner Arthur Blank said at a news conference attended by MLS Commissioner Don Garber. “We will not let you down.”
Mercedes-Benz Stadium already landed the College Football Playoff championship game, which will be held in January, as well as the 2019 Super Bowl and the men’s basketball Final Four in 2020.
“The record is now complete,” Mayor Kasim Reed said. “We have this amazing event coming to the city of Atlanta.”
The midseason All-Star Game features a squad of the top MLS players against a leading international team, which will be announced later. In this year’s game, Real Madrid defeated the MLS on penalty kicks before a sold-out crowd at Chicago’s Soldier Field.
MLS Commissioner Don Garber said Atlanta beat out three other cities for the right to host the game. He declined to name the other bidders, but said United was an obvious choice after the success of its inaugural season.
“I can say without hesitation that the launch of this team is one of the most, if not the most, impressive and successful team launches in the history of professional sports,” Garber said.
United averaged 48,200 per game despite having to play the first half of the season at Georgia Tech’s Bobby Dodd Stadium because of delays in completing the $1.5 billion stadium near downtown Atlanta. That easily eclipsed the record set two years ago by the league’s flagship franchise in Seattle.
United also broke its own single-game record with a crowd of 71,874 for its regular-season finale against Toronto FC on Sunday.
“There was a passion in the city of Atlanta for this sport that has literally woven our city together in a way that I haven’t seen before,” Reed said. “We are just getting started.”
The season isn’t over yet.
Atlanta qualified for the playoffs and will host a knockout-round game against Columbus on Thursday night.
“It seems as if everything that they planned early on has come to fruition, including their success on the field,” Garber said. “Everything is kind of building in a positive and strong fashion.”