TSG Hoffenheim have sacked coach Markus Gisdol and appointed Huub Stevens as his replacement.
Hoffenheim, who finished eighth in the Bundesliga last season, had a turbulent summer which included Roberto Firmino's departure to Liverpool.
They have struggled since the start of the season, winning only one game -- against bottom-of-the-table Augsburg.
"Of course this decision was not easy," Hoffenheim's director of sport Alexander Rosen told Bundesliga club's website. "We kept our cool and patience and had faith in Markus' work, but now we had to take action."
A 1-0 home loss to Hamburg on Friday saw Hoffenheim remain in the relegation zone after 10 games and proved the final match in charge for Gisdol, who oversaw 85 games during his time at the club.
The club said Stevens had been given a contract until the end of the season.
The 61-year-old, who won the 1997 UEFA Cup with Schalke, saved local rivals Stuttgart from relegation twice.
Stevens, who is currently on the board at Bundesliga rivals Schalke and only recently ruled out a return to coaching either with the Royal Blues or Stuttgart, was contacted over the weekend after the Baden-Wurttemberg club decided he was the right man to save the club from relegation this season.
"We were convinced right from the very first talks that Huub Stevens is the perfect solution," Rosen said. "The team has the quality [to stay up] and we are all convinced we can do it."
Gisdol was appointed Hoffenheim coach in April 2013 and saved them from relegation that season. He almost guided them into Europe last season and was rewarded with a new contract until 2018, but started the season with back-to-back defeats.
Hoffenheim picked up their first win of the season on matchday seven, but a 4-2 defeat to Wolfsburg followed by a 1-0 loss to Hamburg proved to be the final straw with Gisdol released from his duties together with his assistants Frank Kaspari and Frank Frohling.
Stevens is joined at Hoffenheim by Alfred Schreuder and will get straight to work on preparing the team to face one of his former clubs Cologne on Saturday. Hoffenheim are not involved in the DFB-Pokal this week since they were knocked out by 1860 Munich in the first round.
Information from Press Association was used in this report.