Lippi rules himself out of Benfica job

Sven-Goran Eriksson set for return to Estadio da Luz?

Italian coach, Marcello Lippi, has removed himself for the running of the vacant coaching position at Benfica. And former England head coach Sven-Goran Eriksson has now emerged as a strong favourite for the vacant position.

World Cup winning coach Lippi was one of the candidates on Benfica’s shortlist for the position, but has crossed his own name off the list, saying he is not interested in the job.

The former Juventus boss, who has not coached since winning the World Cup in 2006, told Portuguese daily O Jogo that he was well aware his name had been linked with the Lisbon club, but at the moment he is not yet looking to get back into coaching.

“Nobody has spoken to me about this subject. In any case, I can assure you that it is not in my plans to coach Benfica or anywhere else in Portugal,” confessed Lippi. “I am not saying this because I am questioning Benfica’s merit, nothing like that. They are a big club, but in spite of that, they are not a possibility that I am evaluating at this time.

“At this moment I will not accept any proposals. I will wait some more time to see what I will do. Would I go abroad? Maybe, but at this time I will not accept any invitation from any club,” the Italian added.

With Lippi officially taking himself out of the race, Benfica have one less name on the list of possible successors to Jose Antonio Camacho.

Past success

Alberto Zaccheroni and Sven-Goran Eriksson have also been mentioned as taking the reigns on the bench and given the speculation regarding his position at Manchester City, the Swede may now be in pole position for a return to the side where he enjoyed tremendous success almost two decades ago.

The Manchester City owner and former Thai Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, is known to be upset at the club’s poor form in the second half of the Premiership campaign and has questioned Eriksson’s ability to lead the club to glory.

Should the Manchester City boss be offered and accept the position, it would be his third spell with the club after having coached the Eagles between 1982-84 and 1989-92, winning three Portuguese Championships, a Portuguese Cup and a Uefa Cup runners-up medal.