Autuori leaves Sao Paulo, joins Kashima Antlers

Sao Paulo coach Paulo Autuori resigned from the world club champions yesterday to take up a job with Japan's Kashima Antlers.

The Brazilian club had previously announced that Autuori had turned down offers to move abroad and would be staying.

"I had a meeting with the (Sao Paulo) directors on Monday and decided to stay with the club," the former Peru coach told Sao Paulo's website.

"However, Kashima Antlers did not accept my decision and things changed. The offer was impossible to refuse. I discussed it with my family and we decided that it was better to leave."

Autuori took over in April after Emerson Leao left the club.

Sao Paulo won the Libertadores Cup, the South American equivalent of the Champions League, in July and crowned their year by winning FIFA's Club World Championship this month, beating Liverpool 1-0 in the final.

Autuori also won the Brazilian championship with Botafogo in 1995 and the Libertadores with Cruzeiro two years later.

He coached Peru during the qualifiers for the 2006 World Cup but, after a promising start, the team struggled and he found himself under increasing pressure.

Autuori resigned in April with four matches of the campaign to play after members of the Peruvian Congress summoned him to justify his salary as part of their investigation into Peruvian football.

Autuori refused, saying it was a private matter and that he had never been so humiliated in his life.