Crotone's Stroppa replaced by Cosmi at basement club

(Reuters) - Crotone have sacked head coach Giovanni Stroppa and replaced him with veteran Serse Cosmi after a six-match losing run left the Calabrians rooted to the bottom of the Serie A table.

Stroppa, 53, led the club to the top flight for the second time in their history as runners-up in Serie B last season but they have struggled this term and he departs with three wins from 24 games in the current league campaign.

Experienced campaigner Cosmi has come in on a deal until the end of the season to mastermind an unlikely survival push.

The 62-year-old manager is best known for his spell in charge of Perugia, who he led to a UEFA Intertoto Cup triumph in 2003, and he earned further Serie A experience with Udinese, Livorno, Palermo, Lecce and Siena, who he left in 2012.

Cosmi subsequently led Pescara, Trapani, Ascoli, Venezia and Perugia in Serie B, and his second spell with the Umbrian club ended when he was sacked in July 2020.

Cotone's 2-0 defeat by relegation rivals Cagliari on Sunday proved to be Stroppa's final game as it left Crotone propping up the table with 12 points, eight adrift of the safety zone.

“Thus ends a beautiful and intense journey lasting almost three years, not without its difficult moments but culminating in an extraordinary survival and a second historic promotion to Serie A,” read a club statement.

(Reporting by Alasdair Mackenzie; editing by Clare Fallon and Ken Ferris)