Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Joel Santana, the Brazilian coach hired last year to prepare South Africa’s soccer squad to host the 2010 World Cup, was fired as the team dropped down the world rankings.

It was unanimously agreed that “Santana would with immediate effect vacate his current position,” the South African Football Association said on its Web site today. Jairo Leal and Pitso Mosimane, the current assistant coaches, will take over as caretaker coaches, SAFA said.

The soccer team, known as Bafana Bafana, had lost eight of its nine games since June. Santana was hired to replace Carlos Alberto Parreira, the former Brazilian World Cup-winning coach, who quit to return home because his wife had fallen ill.

Santana’s departure comes as South Africa languishes at 85th in the rankings of soccer’s world governing body FIFA, down from 16th in 1996 when it won the African Nations Cup. The South African Football Association is looking for its 16th coach in 17 years.

South Africa was chosen in May 2004 over Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Libya to host the World Cup in 2010. All except Libya have a higher FIFA ranking.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ron Derby in Johannesburg at rderby1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 19, 2009 12:49 EDT