Portugal’s Pepa left on Tuesday to take over as manager of Cruzeiro, the 12th-place Brazilian football club announced on Twitter.
“Pepa is no longer the coach of Cruzeiro. Cruzeiro reports that this morning, after a meeting between the football board and Pepa, the decision was made to leave the coach and his technical team,” the Minas Gerais club said in a statement.
Pep will be temporarily replaced by Fernando Cebra and Vinicius Rovaris, with the name of the new coach to be announced in the coming days.
After 21 rounds of the championship, Cruzeiro is in 12th place with 25 points, which is only four above the relegation zone.
The Lisa, as the club is known, went unbeaten in seven matches in Brazil, with a 3-0 home loss to Grêmio being Pepa’s last match.
This was Pepa’s second experience outside of Portugal after last season with the Saudi team Al-Thai.
Prior to this, the 42-year-old coach overtook, in particular, Moreirense, Tondela, Pacos de Ferreira and Vitoria de Guimarães.