Casey Stoney has been sacked as manager of San Diego Wave, with the team having gone seven games without a win.

The former England centre-back swapped Manchester United for newly founded San Diego in 2021, and in 2023 led them to their first NWSL Shield, the trophy awarded to the team with the best regular-season record. Wave then beat the championship winners, NY/NJ Gotham, in the 2024 NWSL Challenge Cup, which is contested between the two trophy winners, in pre-season.

However, this season Wave have accrued just three league wins in 14 games to leave them ninth in the 14-team league, 17 points off leaders Kansas City Current, prompting the club to act.

“We are immensely grateful to Casey for her commitment to our club and the positive impact she has had both on and off the pitch,” said the San Diego Wave president, Jill Ellis, who won two World Cups as head coach of the US women’s national team.

“The decision to part ways was very hard and not made in haste, but given the ambition of this club, and where we are in our season, we felt a change was necessary at this time.”

The 42-year-old Stoney, who played for Arsenal, Charlton, Chelsea, Lincoln and Liverpool in a decorated playing career, became the first manager of Manchester United’s relaunched team in 2018, leading them to the Championship title in their maiden season and promotion to the Women’s Super League in the process.

Stoney’s departure comes as a shock, with the manager having signed a new long-term deal in January that would have kept her at Wave until 2027, with a mutual option to extend to 2028.

In the meantime, Wave announced on 12 June that Camille Ashton had joined as general manager, the former defender having spent two years in the same role with KC Current before she resigned in May, with the club wishing her “the best in her future endeavours”.