Parma coach Hector Cuper has been sacked on Monday ahead of the relegation-threatened team hosting Inter Milan next weekend in the final Serie A game of the season.

The Serie A side released a statement on their website that youth team coach Andrea Manzo was to take charge of Sunday's big match, where Inter can retain the title with a win and send third-from-bottom Parma down.

Cuper, who was Inter boss six years ago and led Spain's Valencia to two Champions League finals in 2000 and 2001, only took over in March but Sunday's 3-1 defeat at Fiorentina was the latest in a string of poor displays.

Parma, the 1995 and 1999 UEFA Cup winners, will be relegated on Sunday after 18 years in the top flight, unless they can beat a stuttering Inter and Roma, fighting Roberto Mancini's men for the title, win at Catania.

The club were hit by financial problems a few years ago and narrowly escaped relegation last season under Claudio Ranieri, now at Juventus.

(Xinhua News Agency May 13, 2008)