"Thun" dismissed the head coach © EuroFootball.com

On Monday, the club dismissed Urs Schoenenberger from the position of head coach, whose Swiss team unexpectedly reached the group stage of the UEFA Champions League.

The 46-year-old coach was dismissed due to "difference of opinion".

46-year-old U. Schoenenberger took over the reins of "Thun" in January 2004, replacing the fans' favorite Hanspeter Latour, and defied skeptics' predictions by achieving the best result in the club's history - second place in the Swiss championship.

Despite having a budget of only 5.5 million Swiss francs (about 12.2 million litas) at his disposal, the coach led "Thun" to the group stage of the UEFA Champions League, after eliminating Dynamo Kyiv and Swedish champions "Malmo".

The players coached by U. Schoenenberger surprised everyone in the group stage: the Swiss club finished third in their group and secured a ticket to the UEFA Europa League Round of 16.

However, in the Swiss championship, "Thun" did not perform as impressively: in the statement about the coach's dismissal, the club management emphasized that the team won only three of their last twelve matches.

Temporarily, the team will be led by assistant coach Adrian Kunz in preparation for Thursday's UEFA Europa League match against Hamburger SV.

During the winter break, the "Thun" team not only lost their coach in European cup competitions, but also two players - forward Mauro Lustrinelli and left-back Jose Goncalves were sold last month.