{"id":7183,"date":"2026-01-01T16:17:47","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T16:17:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=7183"},"modified":"2026-01-01T16:17:47","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T16:17:47","slug":"enzo-maresca-leaves-chelsea-after-just-18-months-as-manager-football-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=7183","title":{"rendered":"Enzo Maresca leaves Chelsea after just 18 months as manager | Football News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p class=\"article__subhead\"><em>Maresca exits the club midway through a turbulent season with the team winning just one Premier League game in December.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-dates\">\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Published On 1 Jan 2026<\/span><span aria-hidden=\"true\">1 Jan 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rich-share\" data-testid=\"rich-share\">\n<div class=\"rich-share__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"rich-share__button-wrapper\"><button class=\"rich-share__button row\" aria-expanded=\"false\"><\/p>\n<p>Click here to share on social media<\/p>\n<p><svg class=\"icon icon--share2 icon--primary icon--16 \" viewbox=\"0 0 20 16\" version=\"1.1\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><title>share2<\/title><path fill=\"#000\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M11.688 9.048c-.659 0-1.252.282-1.673.733l-4.92-2.45c.016-.115.028-.232.028-.352 0-.117-.011-.23-.027-.343l4.913-2.423a2.285 2.285 0 0 0 1.68.739C12.964 4.952 14 3.899 14 2.6 14 1.302 12.965.25 11.688.25S9.377 1.302 9.377 2.601c0 .117.01.23.027.343L4.49 5.367a2.285 2.285 0 0 0-1.68-.739C1.536 4.628.5 5.681.5 6.979c0 1.299 1.035 2.35 2.312 2.35.659 0 1.252-.281 1.673-.731l4.92 2.45a2.357 2.357 0 0 0-.029.351c0 1.299 1.035 2.351 2.312 2.351S14 12.698 14 11.399s-1.035-2.35-2.312-2.35Z\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/p>\n<p class=\"rich-share__social-text\">Share<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Chelsea have parted ways with \u200cEnzo Maresca, a dramatic fall from grace for the Italian who was named \u200dManager of the Month \u200dfor November before the club won just one of their last seven league games, causing them to fall out of the Premier League title race.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChelsea Football Club and head coach Enzo Maresca have parted company,\u201d the club said in a statement on Thursday.<\/p>\n<section class=\"more-on\">\n<h2 class=\"more-on__heading\">Recommended Stories<!-- --> <\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">list of 3 items<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Maresca, who joined Chelsea in 2024 after steering Leicester City to Premier League promotion, leaves 18 months to the day since he was \u2060tasked with reviving the club\u2019s fortunes after two years of failing to qualify for the Champions League.<\/p>\n<p>He eventually \u200bguided the London side to UEFA Champions League qualification with a fourth-placed finish, the Conference \u200dLeague trophy and the Club World Cup title in his first season with a young but expensively built squad.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"poor-run-of-form\">Poor run of form<\/h2>\n<p>However, a poor run of form in December and an uncharacteristic outburst from the Italian prompted the club hierarchy to take \u200daction and part \u2060ways with the 45-year-old manager.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith key objectives still to play for across four competitions including qualification for Champions League football, Enzo and the club believe a change gives the team the best chance of getting the season back on track,\u201d the Chelsea statement said.<\/p>\n<p>Chelsea were as high as third in November and were among the title contenders, high on confidence after they had also crushed Barcelona 3-0 in \u200bthe Champions League at Stamford Bridge.<\/p>\n<p>But they have since slipped to fifth in \u200cthe league to sit 15 points behind leaders Arsenal at the halfway stage of the season.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4208427\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4208427\" style=\"width:770px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-arc-image-770 wp-image-4208427\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2026-01-01T124152Z_1580012717_RC28RIAK3826_RTRMADP_3_SOCCER-ENGLAND-CHE-MARESCA-1767274504.jpg?w=770&amp;resize=770%2C534&amp;quality=80\" alt=\"Enzo Maresca and Cole Palmer react.\" fetchpriority=\"low\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4208427\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chelsea star Cole Palmer shakes hands with Maresca, left, after being substituted during what turned out to be the Italian\u2019s last match in charge of the club against Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge, London, UK, on December 30, 2025 [Andrew Boyers\/Action Images via Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 id=\"worst-48-hours\">\u2018Worst 48 hours\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Last month, Maresca voiced frustration over issues behind the scenes, saying he felt he had a lack of support from the club, describing a period \u200cafter a 2-0 win over Everton as \u201cthe worst 48 hours\u201d of his tenure.<\/p>\n<p>The Italian did not clarify what he meant by the comment, but the damage \u200cseemed to have been done as Chelsea\u2019s league form nosedived.<\/p>\n<p>Although Chelsea \u2060beat Cardiff City to reach the League Cup semifinals, they picked up only two points in their last three Premier League games.<\/p>\n<p>Off the pitch, there was also the unwelcome distraction of rubbishing links to the Manchester City job as Maresca pointed out that he was committed \u200cto Chelsea, where he had a contract until 2029.<\/p>\n<p>But Tuesday\u2019s 2-2 home draw with Bournemouth \u2013 where fans chanted, \u201cYou don\u2019t know what you\u2019re doing\u201d when he substituted playmaker Cole Palmer while they also booed at the final whistle \u2013 proved to be his final match in charge.<\/p>\n<p>The club did not say who would take charge before Sunday\u2019s match against second-placed Manchester City.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maresca exits the club midway through a turbulent season with the team winning just one Premier League game in December. Published On 1 Jan 20261 Jan 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Chelsea have parted ways with \u200cEnzo Maresca, a dramatic fall from grace for the Italian who was named \u200dManager [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}