FEG KOREA (Fighting Esports Group) announced that Hirai has been dismissed from the head coach position of Kingzone DragonX.

In their announcement, FEG KOREA mentioned that Kingzone’s Kang “Hirai” Dong-hoon was dismissed because “Hirai failed to reach Worlds for two straight years, a starting member left due to negligent management while he had full authority over team management, and for harming the team reputation through individual activity that is contrary to the company’s direction”.

“We’d like to thank Hirai for all the effort he has put in over the time he has coached the team. Although he is stepping down from head coach, we’ll bring our heads together so that the team can improve more and have better results,” said FEG KOREA, and asserted the possibility of Hirai remaining with the company. “We expect him to return to the company and carry a major role.”

Hirai had been the head coach of Kingzone DragonX (Longzhu Gaming) since 2016. Within this organization, he won 2017 LCK Summer, 2018 LCK Spring, and was the runner-up of 2018 MSI. However, Kingzone fell short of Worlds in 2019 after a 7th place finish in the regular season and losing in the final round of the Regional Qualifiers.