Paços turn again to experienced Calisto

Henrique Calisto has taken charge of Portuguese Liga strugglers FC Paços de Ferreira for a fourth time.

The well-travelled 60-year-old succeeds Costinha, who stepped down as coach on Monday following a 3-1 home loss to Vitória SC that left the UEFA Europa League participants bottom of the domestic table with four points from eight games.

Paços Ferreira will hope the Matosinhos-born trainer can replicate what he achieved during his third stint at the Estádio Capital do Móvel when, appointed part way through the 2011/12 campaign with the side at the foot of the standings, he oversaw a tenth-place finish. Calisto also steered the Beavers to promotion to the top flight in 2000 towards the end of his second spell.  

Calisto has presided over several teams in his homeland in a 33-year coaching career – A. Académica de Coimbra, Rio Ave FC and SC Braga among them – and spent a decade in Asia from 2001–11, including time at the helm of the Vietnamese national squad.

His new charges are also bottom of UEFA Europa League Group E going into their return match against FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk on 7 November.