Lazaroni takes reins at Trabzonspor

Former Brazil and Fenerbahçe SK coach Sebastião Lazaroni has been named as the new coach of Turkish UEFA Cup contenders Trabzonspor.

Halilhodžić departure
The 55-year-old has signed a three-year deal with the club, replacing Vahid Halilhodžić at the helm after he stepped down following Trabzonspor's fourth-place finish last season. "I'm honoured because it is a big club I know well from my Fenerbahçe days," Lazaroni said. "I hope we can achieve good things here. Our first task is to create a professional attitude at the club, and gel as a team. Our philosophy will be thinking and acting wisely, although everything starts with dreams."

Turkish precedent
Lazaroni has had spells as coach of the Brazilian and Jamaican national teams and led a huge array of clubs in the last two decades, including Italian sides AC Fiorentina and AS Bari as well as Istanbul's Fenerbahçe, who he led to a third-placed finish in Turkey in 1996/97. Trabzonspor finished in fourth in the Turkish Superleague last season but qualified for the UEFA Cup in the second qualifying round slot reserved for the third-placed side, as Beşiktaş JK won the Turkish Cup to claim a place in the first round of the competition.