(Reuters) - Brazil's managerial merry-go-round took a particularly bizarre turn on Friday when three of the clubs fighting relegation parted ways with their coaches, two of whom immediately rejoined rivals seeking to avoid the drop.
Four teams will be relegated from Brazil's Serie A, with Avai and Chapecoense already down with three games of the seasons remaining.
The three teams in most danger of joining them are CSA, who are third bottom with 32 points; fourth-bottom Cruzeiro on 36 points, and the team one point above them, Ceara.
CSA coach Argel Fucks resigned just hours after his team beat Cruzeiro 1-0 on Thursday night only to join Ceara soon after.
Ceara's coach until Thursday was Adilson Batista. Batista was fired only to be appointed at Cruzeiro 24 hours later after Abel Braga left the struggling giant.
Batista became Cruzeiro's fourth coach this year.
Brazilian clubs are notorious for their impatient hiring and firing policies but Friday's changes were startling given the inter-club promiscuity and the little time each coach will have to make their mark.
"When Ceara fired Adilson with four games remaining I said to some friends, how have they got the guts to fire a coach with four games to go," said Cruzeiro president Zeze Perrella. "And, as incredible as it may sound, here we are doing the same."
"I hope to jolt us into some kind of reaction."
(Reporting by Andrew Downie; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
