By Mark Meadows
MILAN (Reuters) - Claudio Ranieri has been sacked as Juventus coach after a poor run of results and youth team boss Ciro Ferrara has taken over, the club said on Monday.
The Turin side are a point above fourth-placed Fiorentina with two matches left and are in danger of slipping out of an automatic Champions League berth after a run of seven Serie A games without a win.
Fourth place guarantees only a spot in the Champions League qualifying rounds.
"Juventus announce that Claudio Ranieri has been sacked as manager. From today the first team has been entrusted to Ciro Ferrara," a statement said, without confirming whether Ferrara was a short-term appointment.
Ferrara, a former Juventus defender, is also Italy assistant manager but has never coached a club before.
The former Italy international, who also played for Napoli, won seven Italian championships as a player and one Champions League with Juve in 1996.
Former Chelsea coach Ranieri succeeded Didier Deschamps in June 2007 after Juve were promoted back to Serie A following their demotion for match-fixing.
BAD RUN
They finished third last season and made a decent start to this term, beating Real Madrid home and away in the Champions League, but the recent bad run has shown no signs of ending.
Sunday's 2-2 home draw with Atalanta, played in an empty stadium after fans were banned for racist chanting, proved to be the last straw for the board despite officials previously saying Ranieri would be safe until the end of the season.
Media reports have said former Juve midfielder Antonio Conte, who has led Bari to promotion to Serie A this season, is among the frontrunners to take over fulltime if Ferrara's appointment is temporary.
AS Roma coach Luciano Spalletti and Gian Piero Gasperini, who has said he is staying as Genoa manager, have also been linked with the job.
Ranieri had not been popular with fans for several weeks and has recently left top striker Alessaandro Del Piero out of his lineups.
Apart from forward Amauri, Juve's purchases under Ranieri have generally disappointed with midfielders Tiago and Christian Poulsen especially struggling.
Italy's best-supported club are in the process of buying Werder Bremen's Brazilian playmaker Diego and re-signing Real Madrid and Italy defender Fabio Cannavaro for next season.
(Additional reporting by Antonella Ciancio; Editing by Clare Fallon. To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)