Sanfrecce Hiroshima manager Takeshi Ono resigned Tuesday and will be replaced by goalkeeper coach Kazuyori Mochizuki after the J. League first-division club opened the season with five losses and three draws in eight matches.
Separately, Cerezo Osaka fired manager Shinji Kobayashi and named Yuji Tsukada as its new chief. Cerezo is sitting just above last-place Sanfrecce in the 18-club standings with one win, six losses and one draw after vying for its first J. ague title until the very last day in 2005 under Kobayashi, who took charge in July 2004.
Sanfrecce was also unable to post a win in two Nabisco Cup matches this year under Ono, losing 2-1 to JEF United Chiba on March 29 and drawing 2-2 with Shimizu S-Pulse last Wednesday.
Ono assumed the post in December 2002 and had the once-relegated club return to the first division with a second-place finish in the second division in 2003. In 2005, he guided Sanfrecce to seventh in the top-flight division.