Real Mallorca sack Portuguese coach Pacheco

Real Mallorca sacked their Portuguese coach Jaime Pacheco on Tuesday, just five games into the Primera Liga season.

Mallorca president Mateo Alemany said the decision had been taken "for the good of the club" at a three-hour board meeting on Monday night.

Mallorca lie 16th in the 20-team Primera Liga after a 2-0 defeat by Albacete on Sunday left them with only four points from five games.

"The club believes a change is necessary," Alemany said. "The team needs to be playing at a higher level than we've seen so far. We're now starting negotiations to bring in the best coach possible for Mallorca."

Pacheco was in his first season in charge of Mallorca after enjoying scarcely credible levels of success during a five-year spell at Boavista.

Pacheco guided the unfashionable Portuguese club to their first league title in 2001 and the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup last term.

Under former coach Gregorio Manzano, Mallorca finished last season in ninth place in the league and won the King's Cup.

The chances of Pacheco building on the work done by his predecessor were hit hard by the departures of important players such as Uruguayan striker Walter Pandiani and skilful Argentine midfielder Ariel Ibagaza.

Pacheco is the first coach of a Primera Liga club to lose his job this season.