Ottawa Fury FC has elected not to renew the contract of head coach Nikola Popovic.
The USL Championship club's season ended Oct. 23 in a 5-4 penalty shootout playoff loss to the Charleston Battery in the Eastern Conference play-in round. The game finished tied 1-1.
"I have a lot of respect for Nikola as a person and as a professional," Ottawa GM Julian de Guzman said in a statement Wednesday. "It was a very difficult decision to make, but we ultimately decided to go in a different direction."
Popovic joined the club in 2018 after spending two campaigns with the Swope Park Rangers. His regular-season record as Fury FC head coach was 27-25-16.
Ottawa made the playoffs after finishing eighth in the Eastern Conference with a 14-10-10 regular-season record.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 30, 2019.
The Canadian Press