Ligue 1 team OGC Nice announced on Friday that the club parted ways with manager Patrick Vieira.
The decision came after Nice suffered a crushing 3-2 home defeat to Bayer Leverkusen on Thursday. This was the club’s fifth straight loss and seventh in the past 10 games.
Vieira leaves Nice sitting at No.11 in domestic competitions and without any chances to advance from the Europa League group stage.
Adrian Ursea, who served as Vieira’s assistant, will take over the managerial duties on an interim basis.
“The Nice board sincerely thanks the former France international for his commitment and dedication to the development of the club and wishes him every future success in his coaching career,” said Nice in an official statement.
Patrick Vieira joined Nice in the summer of 2018 following two successful seasons in MLS with New York City FC. He was expected to replicate the success from the United States to Ligue 1, and was actually off to a good start—before things turned sour.
In his first two seasons, Vieira achieved No.7 and No.5 finishes. Despite lack of success in Cup competitions, it looked like he could get the club to even bigger heights.
But now that things have fallen apart for the French legend this season, he’ll now look for a new challenge elsewhere. Meanwhile, Nice hopes a new voice can steer the ship in the right direction.
