Former Italy star Andrea Pirlo has been appointed coach of the Juventus Under-23 team, the Serie A champions announced yesterday. Pirlo began his career at Brescia and went on to play for Inter, AC Milan and Juve before moving in 2015 for two seasons with New York City FC in the MLS. During his four seasons with Juventus the 41-year-old won Serie A four times and one Italian Cup.
Capped 116 times for Italy, Pirlo was a key figure in the team that won the 2006 World Cup. He also won two Champions Leagues and two league titles with Milan during his 22-year playing career.

Saint-Etienne captain 
Perrin retires, six days 
after Mbappe clash
Loic Perrin, who played his entire career with his home-town club Saint-Etienne, announced that he was retiring. The 34-year-old’s final appearance was in the French Cup final last Friday when he was sent off for a foul on Kylian Mbappe of Paris Saint-Germain as Saint-Etienne lost 1-0. The defender joined Saint-Etienne at the age of 12 and went on to play 470 matches for the club and captain the team for more than a decade. He was called into the France squad on a couple of occasions but never won a cap.

CAS reject Trabzonspor’s appeal against UEFA FFP ban
Trabzonspor will miss out on the Champions League next season after the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected their appeal against a one-year ban from European competition for Financial Fair Play violations. 
In a statement, CAS said it had ruled that the six-time Turkish champions had failed to respect an agreement made with European governing body UEFA in 2016 which said they had to break even for the 2019 financial year. 
Trabzonspor finished second to Istanbul Basaksehir in the recently completed 2019-20 Turkish Super Lig season, which would have given them a place in the Champions League qualifying rounds had the ban not been upheld by CAS.
The club on the coast of the Black Sea are the latest club to fall foul of UEFA’s FFP rules. Seven-time European champions AC Milan missed this season’s Europa League.

Fiorentina renew coach Iachini’s contract for next season
Giuseppe Iachini will continue to coach Fiorentina for the 2020-21 season, the Serie A club confirmed. Iachini, a former midfielder, played over 100 times for the club between 1989 and 1994. He has also coached Sampdoria, Palermo, Sassuolo and Udinese.  Iachini replaced Vincenzo Montella in December with the club just three points above the relegation zone. The 56-year-old led the Tuscan side to safety and they are now 10th following their 4-0 win over Bologna midweek, with their final game of the season at relegated SPAL on Sunday.

Coach Lucescu ‘happy’ 
after changing decision to 
quit Dynamo Kiev
Mircea Lucescu reversed his decision to quit Dynamo Kiev just days after news of the controversial appointment of the former Shakhtar Donetsk coach sparked an outcry from fans. “I am very happy to come back to Ukraine. I really hope we will go a long way together,” Lucescu said during a news conference with Dynamo president Igor Surkis. “I hope that the supporters (...) will end up being on our side. They should first appreciate my courage to have taken this step and come to Dynamo,” he added.
The club’s decision to hire Romanian Lucescu sparked an uproar from fans because of the his 12-year spell in charge of bitter rivals Shakhtar Donetsk, where he won a host of domestic honours and the 2009 UEFA Cup.
Lucescu, 75, told Romanian reporters on Monday he would not take up the post at Dynamo Kiev after fans reacted furiously, describing his appointment as a “spit in the face”. Surkis refuted the claim saying that Lucescu would remain head coach. Dynamo said last week that Lucescu, who has been unemployed since February 2019, had signed a two-year contract with the option of extending it for one season. Lucescu took over after the sacking of Oleksiy Mykhailychenko, who guided the club to a 12th Ukrainian Cup earlier this month but saw them finish second in the league title race, a record 23 points behind Shakhtar. Over his 40-year career, Lucescu has coached the Romanian and Turkish national teams as well as clubs in Romania, Italy, Turkey, Ukraine and Russia.

Richarlison may stay at 
Everton for another season
Everton forward Richarlison has said he may stay at the Premier League club for another season but will discuss his future with manager Carlo Ancelotti if they receive a “good offer”.
The Brazilian, who joined Everton from Watford for around 40mn pounds ($51.92mn) in 2018, has been linked with a move to several of Europe’s top clubs including Barcelona and Manchester United.