Portuguese football giants Sporting Lisbon sacked coach Domingos Paciencia on Monday and replaced him with Ricardo Sa Pinto after the club slid to their fourth successive defeat at the weekend.

Sa Pinto, 39 and who played for Sporting, has been promoted from coaching the junior side and given a contract until the summer of 2013.

Sporting, who won the last of their 18 league titles in 2002, are fourth in the table but 16 points adrift of leaders and city rivals Benfica and have slumped since the turn of the year, winning just two of their 10 games.

Paciencia, 43 and like his successor a former Portuguese international, had been at the club only since last summer after guiding unfashionable Sporting Braga to the final of the Europa League.

Paciencia, though, at least leaves having taken the club to the Portuguese Cup final and to the knockout stages of the Europa League, where they play Polish side Legia Warsaw on Thursday.