FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Ligue 1 - Brest v Nice - Stade Francis-Le Ble, Brest, France - February 4, 2024 OGC Nice coach Francesco Farioli applauds fans after the match REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/File Photo
(Reuters) - Ajax Amsterdam have agreed a fee for the release of Nice coach Francesco Farioli with the 35-year-old expected to sign a three-year contract in the coming days, according to media reports in France and the Netherlands on Wednesday.
Italian Farioli will replace John van 't Schip following a poor season in the Eredivisie in which Ajax ended fifth, their lowest finish since the 1999-00 season.
Ajax will pay Nice 1.25-million euros ($1.35 million) in compensation according to NOS.nl as Farioli becomes the first foreign coach at the club since the Dane Morten Olsen in 1997.
Farioli, in his third full season as a coach, took Nice to fifth in Ligue 1 this term. He previously led Turkish clubs Fatih Karagumruk and Alanyaspor, and joined Nice at the start of the 2023-24 campaign.
Farioli was goalkeeper coach under former Brighton & Hove Albion manager Roberto De Zerbi at Benevento and Sassuolo, and did not play professional football himself.
($1 = 0.9244 euros)
(Reporting by Nick Said; Editing by Toby Davis)
