Italian top-flight club Udinese sacked coach Luca Gotti on Tuesday after a 3-1 defeat to mid-table Empoli left them 14th in Serie A.

In a statement on their website, Udinese said Gotti had been "released from his duties with the first team".

Gotti joined Udinese in 2019 when he was promoted from the assistant coach's position after Igor Tudor was sacked.

He led Udinese to a 13th place finish two seasons running, in 2019-2020 and 2020-2021, but the team have won just three times this season.