St Louis City SC announced Monday, Aug. 25 that the Major League Soccer franchise’s first sporting director had left the team.

Lutz Pfannenstiel had been with the organization for five years, establishing the franchise’s academy and MLS Next Pro team before the launch of the MLS team in 2023. The early work was critical to City winning its first nine MLS games and picking up the regular season Western Conference title in 2023. However, City have yet to see significant success since, having lost in the first round of the 2023 playoffs to rivals Sporting Kansas City, and failing to make the playoffs last season. Currently St Louis City are two points away from the bottom of the conference standings, with seven games remaining in the season.

With Pfannenstiel’s departure, his duties will be split between President and General Manager Diego Gigliani and Technical Director John Hackworth. City are also looking for a new permanent head coach following the dismissal of Olof Mellberg in May.

St Louis will host the Houston Dynamo this Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m. at Energizer Park.