Leading Tunisian club fire German coach

African Champions League group-phase qualifiers Etoile Sahel of Tunisia have fired German coach Gernot Rohr, the club website said.

His dismissal came after Etoile from the Mediterranean resort of Sousse lost 4-1 at bitter domestic rivals Esperance this week in the final round of the national championship.

“He failed to adapt to the realities of Tunisian football and was unable to understand the cultural mentality and that is why we ended our collaboration,” the website explained.

“The squad was not prepared to maintain the high standards of the club in the final match of the season. Some players attended only two or three training sessions in the 10 days before the match and that is unacceptable.”

Esperance won the title and Etoile finished third behind Club Africain, ruling them out of the 2010 African Champions League unless they win the competition this year.

Etoile have been drawn with Heartland of Nigeria, Monomotapa of Zimbabwe and Tout Puissant Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo in Group B of the Champions