Claudio Ranieri was fired as the manager of English champion Leicester on Thursday, nine months after guiding the club to the most improbable title triumph in Premier League history.
Leicester's Thai owners took the drastic measure with the team just a point above the relegation zone with 13 games remaining in a dreadful title defense.
"We are duty-bound to put the club's long-term interests above all sense of personal sentiment," Leicester vice chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha said, "no matter how strong that might be."
Leicester, with a team of journeymen, cast-offs and previously unheralded players, won the Premier League last season at odds of 5,000-1, a feat generally viewed as one of the greatest in all sports.
Ranieri was last month voted as FIFA coach of the year.
However, the Italian manager has come under heavy pressure in recent weeks as Leicester slipped closer to the bottom three in the Premier League and reportedly fell out with some of his players. The club qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League — it lost 2-1 to Sevilla in the first leg on Wednesday — but even the potential prospect of reaching the quarterfinals of Europe's most illustrious competition hasn't saved Ranieri.
"His status as the most successful Leicester City manager of all time is without question," a long club statement said of Ranieri.
"However, domestic results in the current campaign have placed the club's Premier League status under threat, and the board reluctantly feels that a change of leadership, while admittedly painful, is necessary in the club's greatest interest."
Leicester hasn't scored a goal in six league games in 2017, and could be in the relegation zone by the time the team plays its next match, at home to Liverpool on Monday.
Assistant manager Craig Shakespeare and first-team coach Mike Stowell have been placed in temporary charge of the side.
Ranieri took charge of Leicester in July 2015.