Dos Santos out as LAFC head coach

With its season slipping away, LAFC is moving now to right the ship with precious little time remaining.

Mired in a slump that has extended two months and seen its position in the Western Conference plummet, LAFC made a huge change on Sunday, as they announced it had parted ways with head coach Marc Dos Santos. The move comes as LAFC is currently languishing with a 11-8-9 record and 41 points, which currently puts them in sixth place in the West, a far cry from the lofty expectations bestowed on the club at the beginning of the season. LAFC has six matches remaining in the regular season, and despite its recent struggles, still sit just six points from second place in the conference.

“Marc has given a great deal to this club over the years, and we are grateful for his commitment, care and contributions to LAFC,” said President of Soccer Operations John Thorrington. “We wish Marc and his family all the best moving forward.”

Dos Santos was named head coach on December 5, 2025, after spending the previous four seasons as an assistant with the club. Dos Santos succeeded Steve Cherundolo, who left to pursue opportunities outside MLS, eventually becoming head coach of the United States U-23 team. Prior to his tenure with LAFC, Dos Santos had held several assistant coaching and head coaching positions with several teams across the United States and Canada, mostly in the lower leagues. Dos Santos was actually in his second stint as LAFC assistant, having been on Bob Bradley’s staff during the club’s inaugural season in 2018 before finally getting his first chance at top-flight coaching when he was named head coach of the Vancouver Whitecaps prior to the 2019 season. Dos Santos spent two and a half seasons with the Whitecaps before being fired midway through the 2021 season due to lack of results.

Dos Santos inherited a team with high expectations, such as championship expectations, which is expected when you boast one of the most lethal forward tandems in Son Heung-min and Denis Bouanga. The season started out well for LAFC in its first week, as they began by routing Real Espana in its opening match of the CONCACAF Champions Cup, then followed up with another rout, this time of the reigning MLS Cup champions Inter Miami in front of over 75,000 at the LA Coliseum in the league opener. That week triggered an undefeated start that stretched 11 matches and saw LAFC make it to the CCC semifinals.

Things however have gone downhill since then, as they failed to advance out of group play of Leagues Cup and have gone 6-9-7 in MLS play. LAFC looked like they had gotten back on track when play resumed after the World Cup break, winning its first three games coming out of the break, and more importantly, Son looked like he had rediscovered his scoring touch, scoring in those three games after scoring just twice in CONCACAF play during the first half of the season. LAFC though have since taken a turn for the worse, having won just once in its last ten matches, and there have been some real head scratching results during this span, such as losing to last-place Sporting Kansas City and losing or drawing against teams sitting outside of the playoff bubble. The one result however that may have ultimately sealed Dos Santos’ fate came two weeks ago in Santa Clara, when LAFC allowed the San Jose Earthquakes to rally back from a two-goal deficit, with the equalizer coming at the death of the match, turning a potential two-goal win into a 2-2 draw. More recently, LAFC lost to FC Dallas this past Saturday, with the team having to soldier on without Son and Bouanga, both of whom were away on international duty. LAFC was also unlucky to have a potential tying goal overturned due to VAR in the 70th minute of that match, but ultimately, all that was not enough to prevent Thorrington from making the change.

LAFC has not disclosed any further plans on the head coaching position, only to state “The club will share an update on its interim coaching plans soon, as we begin the search for a new head coach.”