Carlos Queiroz has been sacked as Portugal football coach after a disciplinary feud sparked by a six-month ban for insulting officials from the country's anti-doping body.
The former Manchester United boss, who took over in July 2008, also paid a heavy price for a loss of form that saw his team struggle to reach the World Cup and pick up just a point from their opening two Euro 2012 qualifiers.
Queiroz was serving a six-month ban, which he had described as "erroneous and abusive", for hindering dope testers who had turned up to test his players at a pre-World Cup training camp in May.
Portugal were knocked out by Spain in the last 16 of the World Cup.
Their campaign to reach the Euro 2012 finals has suffered a nightmare start with a 4-4 home draw against lowly Cyprus followed by a 1-nil defeat against Norway on Wednesday.
