Dynamo Kyiv sacks coach

Dynamo's Champions League campaign got off to a disastrous start last week with a 4-1 defeat at the hands of PSG that exposed the gap in class between the sides.

Meanwhile, Semin has failed to break the ascendancy of Dynamo's bitter rival, Shakhtar Donetsk, which won the domestic title last year and has also stolen a march to lead the league this season.

Dynamo lost 3-1 to Shakhtar in the league earlier this month, and a 4-1 defeat to the same opponent in the fourth round of the Ukrainian Cup at the weekend proved to be the final straw.

"Dynamo thanks Yuri Pavlovich Semin for the work he has done and wishes him luck in his future activities," a club statement read.

"An announcement will be made soon over who will prepare the team for the next matches."

One of the most experienced managers in the former Soviet Union, the Russian Semin, now 65, coached Moscow side Lokomotiv from 1986 to 2005 and also had a largely unsuccessful stint with the Russian national team.

He started coaching Dynamo Kyiv in 2007 but in 2009 again took up the post of Lokomotiv manager. He then returned to Kyiv in 2010.

Dynamo Kyiv was also hit by the retirement of star striker Andriy Shevchenko, who quit football to begin a new career in politics.