Luxemburgo leaves Cruzeiro days after Ronaldo acquisition

Former Brazil coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo has left Brazilian side Cruzeiro, the second division club announced on Tuesday, just 10 days after World Cup winner Ronaldo said he was buying it.

“Given the budgetary reality of the club, the technical staff will not be retained,” Cruzeiro said on Twitter, adding a successor to Luxemburgo would be announced in the coming days.

Luxemburgo, who won the Copa America with Brazil in 1999, only joined the club in August.

Back-to-back champions as recently as 2013-14, Cruzeiro finished a pitiful 14th in the Brazilian Serie B last season.

Handout picture released by the Cruzeiro Esporte football club showing its president Sergio Santos Rodrigues (L) and Brazilian former striker Ronaldo (R) posing for a picture holding a Cruzeiro jersey, during a meeting in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on December 18, 2021. – Former Brazilian striker Ronaldo announced on Saturday that he would buy Cruzeiro, a club where he made his professional debut at the age of 16, but which has languished in the second division for two seasons. (Photo by Cruzeiro Football Club / AFP)

Although born in Rio de Janeiro, the 45-year-old made his professional debut for Belo Horizonte-based Cruzeiro in 1993, aged 16.

Globoesporte.com reported that Ronaldo will pay 400 million reais (about 60 million euros) to become the club’s majority shareholder.

He already has a controlling stake, acquired in 2018, in Spanish club Valladolid, who were relegated to the second division last season.

Mired in financial strife, Cruzeiro were relegated from Serie A in 2019, despite having won the Brazilian Cup in 2017 and 2018.

Luxemburgo, who briefly coached Real Madrid, is one of the most successful coaches in recent Brazilian history, having won the title with four different clubs.

Meanwhile, coach Alex Stival announced he was quitting Atletico Mineiro, the reigning double winners who are also from Belo Horizonte, for personal reasons.