Nantes Decides to Sack Coach Ahmed El Kantari Due to Poor Results, Appoints Halilhodžić as Successor

French newspaper L'Equipe has reported that FC Nantes has decided to dismiss its Moroccan coach, Ahmed El Kantari, due to a string of poor results.

This decision comes after a challenging season for the club. El Kantari, who took charge of Nantes in mid-December, was unable to steer the team back on track, leaving them in 17th place with just 17 points. This marks the club's weakest points tally in its Ligue 1 history at this stage of the season.

The Moroccan coach's tenure at Nantes began with a heavy 4-1 defeat to Angers on December 12, just hours after his appointment. Despite managing to bring some players back to form and securing a 2-0 victory over Olympique Marseille on January 4, he could not halt the team's negative run, which included five consecutive league defeats in January and February, in addition to their elimination from the Coupe de France against Nice.

According to the same source, Bosnian coach Vahid Halilhodzic, 73, is expected to take over the team. Halilhodzic previously played for Nantes between 1981 and 1986 and also managed the club from 2018 to 2019. He has not held a coaching position since 2022, following the end of his spell with the Moroccan national team.