The three-time defending South Korean football champions Ulsan HD FC announced Friday they have terminated their contract with head coach Kim Pan-gon, barely a year after hiring him.
Ulsan HD said the decision was reached through a mutual agreement between the club and the departing coach.
Kim will coach his final match at 7 p.m. Saturday against Suwon FC at Munsu Football Stadium in Ulsan, some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul.
Ulsan HD brought in Kim on July 28 last year to replace Hong Myung-bo, who had left for the South Korean men's national team after coaching Ulsan HD to back-to-back K League 1 titles in 2022 and 2023. They were in their season-low fourth place when Kim was hired, but won eight of their first 11 matches under the new coach to claim their third consecutive title.
Kim had played for Ulsan's championship squad in 1996, making him the first man to win the league title with Ulsan both as player and head coach.
This year, Ulsan HD put together an early three-match winning streak, seemingly on their way to another title, before fading away badly. They are winless in their past six league matches, leaving them in seventh place among 12 clubs with 31 points -- 23 behind the league-leading Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors with 15 matches left.
Kim had been under pressure to step down for weeks. When he coached Team K League in a friendly match against Newcastle United on Wednesday, some Ulsan HD fans chanted, "Kim Pan-gon, get out!" before the kickoff.
Kim said after the match he hadn't heard the chants and said he would try to right the ship in August.
Former South Korean national team head coach Shin Tae-yong is believed to be in line to succeed Kim, who claimed he'd found about his dismissal through a media report Thursday before the club had even contacted him.
Also Friday, Ulsan HD CEO Kim Gwang-guk resigned after 10 years on the job.
