FINLAND HAVE SACKED manager Anna Signeul ahead of their crucial World Cup qualifier against Ireland in Dublin on 1 September. 

U17 manager Marko Saloranta has been promoted to take temporary charge, and will oversee the rest of the qualification campaign. 

Signeul’s contract ran until the end of 2022, but the Federation have ended it early in light of a dispiriting performance at the European Championships, in which Finland lost all three of their group games: a 1-0 loss to Denmark coming either side of three-goal defeats to Spain and Germany. 

That followed an underwhelming run of results in World Cup qualifying, which included defeats to Ireland and Sweden in Helsinki and a draw away to Slovakia. They lie a point behind second-placed Ireland in Group A, ahead of the sides’ meeting in Tallaght in September. Second place in the group will earn a play-off for the World Cup, with Sweden already qualified as group winners. Victory in that game for Ireland will secure that play-off spot with a game to spare.