Ulsan: The three-time defending South Korean football champions Ulsan HD FC terminated their contract with head coach Shin Tae-yong on Thursday, cutting ties with their second bench boss of the season after just two months.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Shin had taken over from Kim Pan-gon on August 5, when Ulsan, on the heels of their third consecutive K League 1 title last year, found themselves in seventh place in the 12-team league. However, after losing to Gimcheon Sangmu FC 3-0 on Sunday, Ulsan fell to 10th place with 37 points from nine wins, 10 draws, and 13 losses. Under Shin’s leadership over the past two months, Ulsan managed to win just one match and earned six points.
The latest defeat sent Ulsan to the lower tier of the league, Final B, for the final five matches of the campaign. After 33 matches, teams are divided into Final A and Final B, and finish out the season by playing five more matches within their group. Teams in Final A are guaranteed to avoid relegation or promotion-relegation playoffs, while those in Final B will try to stay out of such danger. Ulsan last participated in Final B in 2015.
Ulsan remains 11 points clear of last-place Daegu FC for automatic relegation to the K League 2. However, they are still at risk of facing a promotion-relegation playoff to avoid being demoted to the second division next year. Ulsan trail ninth-place Suwon FC by a point with six matches remaining. Each year, teams finishing in 10th and 11th places in the K League 1 must beat opponents from the K League 2 to remain in the top competition for the following season.
Additionally, on Thursday, Ulsan CEO Kim Gwang-guk stepped down from his position. He had initially offered to resign when Kim Pan-gon was dismissed in August, but the club requested him to stay on to help stabilize the situation amid the coaching change. The executive will leave this time with Ulsan having failed to turn their season around.
Following an international break, Ulsan will appoint their youth director, Roh Sang-rae, as caretaker manager.