Santos lose Igesund fight

Igesund had been planning a move for several weeks

By Mark Gleeson BBC Sport Online in Cape Town

South African champions Santos have lost their legal battle to keep coach Gordon Igesund.

Igesund received court clearance on Monday to join neighbouring club Ajax Cape Town, leaving his former side without a coach just weeks away from the start of the new season.

Santos fight for Igesund

The Cape High Court rejected Santos' application to force Igesund to see out his two-year contract, which runs until June 2003, and force Ajax to stop courting him.

The 45-year-old coach, who has become hot property in South Africa after winning three championships in the last five years, all of them with different clubs, is now free to join Ajax for the new season.

Santos celebrate their first league championship

The court found that Santos had at all times complied with their side of the deal, and that Igesund's reason for wanting to go was simply that he had been offered a better deal elsewhere.

However, Judge Desai said it was questionable whether an order for Igesund to stay was appropriate, as a coach's services were of a highly personal nature.

Desai assumed that, despite his professionalism, a coach performing his duties under a court order would at the very least do so with diminished enthusiasm and commitment.

He did not believe that in these circumstances Igesund and Santos would be able to restore a working relationship, let alone that between a coach and his team.

Igesund quits post

These practical considerations deterred him from granting the order, the judge said.

Santos won their first major championship in May despite limited resources and are now looking ahead to next year's African Champions League.

Former Kenya coach Reinhard Fabisch has already been linked to the club as a possible replacement for Igesund.