LAFC Fires Marc Dos Santos After Just Nine Months

Nine months. That's all the experiment lasted. LAFC fired Marc Dos Santos Sunday night, and honestly the warning signs had been flashing at BMO Stadium for weeks.

General manager John Thorrington announced the coach's departure himself, the same coach he had handpicked to replace Steve Cherundolo, the MLS Cup winner. The club has not yet named a replacement.

"Marc has given a lot to this club over the years, and we are grateful for his commitment, his care and his contributions to LAFC," Thorrington said in a statement.

Behind the statement is a season that went sideways and never got fixed. With a roster full of big names, led by Son Heung-Min and Denis Bouanga, LAFC sits just sixth in the Western Conference at 11-9-8, having won only one of its last nine matches across all competitions. None of that lined up with the expectations that came with signing Son.

The fan base had already grown restless. Criticism centered on stagnant soccer and substitution decisions that never quite convinced anyone, and boos were even heard at home, something rare for a fan base known for backing its team. The final blow came Saturday, with a 1-0 loss on the road at FC Dallas, leaving LAFC with a dismal 1-4-5 record in MLS play since July.

A Job With History Behind It

Dos Santos was only the third coach in LAFC history, a franchise that entered the league as an expansion club in 2018. Before him, Bob Bradley built a competitive team almost immediately at the stadium now known as BMO Stadium, and then Cherundolo led the club to the 2022 title and the U.S. Open Cup in 2024, before stepping down last year with plans to return to Germany. Those plans changed in July, when Cherundolo agreed to coach the U.S. under-23 national team ahead of the 2028 Olympics.

From the start, Dos Santos's hiring didn't sit entirely well with fans: it marked the second straight time Thorrington had promoted from within, and much of the fan base had hoped for a different style of play following the high-profile signing of Son. The debut, though, offered promise: a 3-0 win over defending champion Inter Miami in front of 75,673 fans at the Coliseum. But that early momentum never carried forward: the team could never find its footing in the conference race and was eliminated from Concacaf Champions Cup play in May.

Now the club has to sort out the interim situation with the calendar running: LAFC doesn't play again until October 10 against Vancouver, with six matches remaining to try to fight into playoff position and salvage a season that has, so far, slipped away.