German coach Markus Gisdol has departed his position at Lokomotiv Moscow, the Russian top-flight club said on Tuesday.

The club did not give a reason for his departure after just four and a half months on the bench.

However, the 52-year-old Gisdol made it clear in a newspaper interview that he was quitting over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Football coach is the most beautiful job in the world for me,” he said. “But I cannot pursue my profession in a country whose leader is responsible for an attack in the middle of Europe.

“That does not match with my values. I can’t stand in Moscow on the training pitch where players train and demand professionalism when a few kilometres away orders are given which brings misery upon a whole people.

“That is my personal decision and I am absolutely convinced of it.”

Gisdol, who previously coached Hoffenheim and SV Hamburg in the Bundesliga, was released by Cologne last April and took the Lokomotiv job in October.

Former Bundesliga player Marvin Compper will replace Gisdol as Lokomotiv’s interim coach, the club said.

Another German coach working in Russia, Sandro Schwarz, meanwhile said he would not leave his position at Dynamo Moscow.

“I’m not someone who buys a ticket, jumps in the plane and flies away from Russia,” he said. “That’s not my style. I feel my responsibility and stay at the club.”

(dpa/NAN)