Stephen Azzopardi is no longer the head coach of Sliema Wanderers but is staying on as technical director, the Premier League club said in a short statement.

Assistant coach Ivan Woods will take over the team on a temporary basis as Sliema Wanderers are expected to recruit a new coach after discussing the matter with the players.

"The SWFC committee together with coach Stephen Azzopardi have decided that, with immediate effect, Mr Azzopardi will focus more on a holistic review of the whole club’s technical structure, as club Technical Director,” Sliema Wanderers said

"Temporarily the position of the senior team coach will be taken over by the assistant coach (Ivan Woods).”

Sliema Wanderers have had a disappointing season so far and Sunday’s unexpected 2-1 loss to Naxxar Lions left them fourth from bottom in the Premier League table before the start of the third round.

Azzopardi, who last year signed a full-time contract as coach and technical director of Sliema Wanderers, had succeeded Italian Alfonso Greco in 2014.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.