Soccer-Two coaches in Australia's A-League quit before competition restart

Adelaide United and Melbourne Victory will be seeking new head coaches ahead of the resumption of Australia's A-League in mid-July, with both Gertjan Verbeek and Carlos Salvachua walking away from their roles. Adelaide's Verbeek returned to his native Netherlands after the novel coronavirus outbreak forced the league to suspend their season in March, and the Dutchman said in a statement late on Friday he would not be returning.

"The coronavirus has made it a very difficult and insecure situation for everyone," Verbeek said. "Based on the uncertain period we are currently in, we mutually agreed to end the contract after one season." Salvachua, appointed as Melbourne's head coach in January on an interim basis, was keen to return to Europe with his family and seek a new job there, Victory's Chief Executive Trent Jacobs said in a statement on Saturday.

"Given the current environment around the world and the fact we are working through a process to appoint our next A-League head coach, we understand and accept Carlos' decision to return to Europe," Jacobs said. The 47-year-old Spaniard, who initially arrived at the club as an assistant to Kevin Muscat ahead of the 2018/19 season, replaced Marco Kurz, who was sacked in January.

The A-League has six rounds of the regular season remaining.