China's sports governing body has reportedly decided to sack embattled women's soccer coach Elisabeth Loisel, according to the newspaper Soccer. The decision will officially announced once the team returns home on Saturday after a disastrous Algarve Cup in southern Portugal.

Reports said that the State General Administration of Sports (SGAS) is well aware of the strained relationship between the coach, her players and team officials and has agreed to the proposal from the China Football Association (CFA), which is said to be seeking a replacement for the isolated French coach.

SGAS reportedly asked the CFA to find someone who is up to speed on China's women's team as soon as possible, meaning a local coach is likely to take over the job.

Loisel has returned to her hometown in France, saying she feels tired and needs a vacation.

She did not make any comments on the reports of her firing.

"I will come home and wait for the final decision from CFA in France," she said.

The squad was embarrassed in the Algarve Cup with three losses and just one win (including a loss to lower-ranked Italy) and finished ninth place in the 12-team competition, the second-worst result for China in the tournament's history.

Without a fortunate penalty-shootout win over the little-fancied host in the ninth-place playoff, China would have equaled last year's historic-worst 10th place.

These terrible performances were the final straw for Loisel, who had been expected to lead the team into at least to the semifinals of the Olympics. She was given the job last October after former Swedish coach Marika Domanski-Lyfors decided not to extend her contract.

Loisel was the seventh head coach and the second foreign coach for China in four years.

The frequent reshuffling of coaches has dealt further blows to the slumping team, and its target of reaching the Olympic semifinals is appearing less and less realistic.

Loisel has been under fire since her public dispute with team official Zhang Jianqiang last month.

Zhang and other Chinese officials and players accused her of frequently arriving late to daily trainings.

When Loisel ordered players not to attend a hotpot dinner arranged by Zhang because of dietary concerns, relations between coach and team continued to fray.

Chinese officials subsequently overruled the hotpot ban and publicly scolded Loisel.

Just before the Algarve Cup, Loisel gave CFA an ultimatum - either replace Zhang or let her go.

But she failed to prove her ability on the pitch, and it cost her her coaching career in China.

(China Daily March 14, 2008)