The South Korean football club Suwon Samsung Bluewings fired head coach Lee Byung-geun on Monday, following a seven-match winless skid to begin the 2023 season.
The K League 1 club said they will announce a caretaker manager Tuesday.
Suwon Samsung, one of the marquee franchises in South Korean pro football, have failed to record a victory in the new campaign, with two draws and five losses putting them in last place among the 12 clubs in the K League 1.
They opened the season with a 1-0 loss to the newly-promoted Gwangju FC. It was followed by a 1-1 draw with Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, and consecutive losses to Suwon FC and Daejeon Hana Citizen FC.
They then played Gangwon FC to a 1-1 draw, before losing to Ulsan Hyundai FC 2-1 and then to Jeju United 3-2 over the weekend.
Suwon Samsung have a rival match against FC Seoul coming up Saturday and decided to put a new face in charge ahead of the showdown.
Lee spent the majority of his playing career with Suwon Samsung, and served as an assistant and later caretaker boss for the team.
He later coached Daegu FC to third place in 2021 and took Suwon Samsung's helm in April last year.
Lee didn't find quite the same success at his former team, as Suwon Samsung barely avoided relegation by squeezing past FC Anyang in the promotion-relegation playoff in 2022. With the dismal skid to start this season, however, Suwon Samsung appear to be in danger of relegation this time.
Source: Yonhap News Agency