SAN JUAN DE MARCONA, Peru (AFP) - Portuguese football coach André Villas-Boas has been forced out of the Dakar Rally after hurting his back on Tuesday's fourth stage, his team Toyota Overdrive said.

The former Chelsea and Tottenham coach jolted his back after his car went airborne off a sand dune and made a hard landing, Toyota said in a statement.

"Medical examinations show no broken bones," but Villas-Boas is in pain and he and his co-pilot Ruben Faria are out of the 9,000km rally, the team added.

Villas-Boas, 40, taking part in his first rally, had made a difficult debut in the sport's most demanding race, and was 2hr 18min 50sec behind the leader after the third stage.

He had left Shanghai SIPG in late November 2017 after the end of the Chinese football league season.