Wigan Athletic have gone into administration after the coronavirus pandemic had a "significant impact" on the football club's finances.
Paul Stanley, Gerald Krasner and Dean Watson from Begbies Traynor have been appointed as joint administrators for the Championship team, a statement said.
Mr Krasner said: "Our immediate objectives are to ensure the club completes all its fixtures this season and to urgently find interested parties to save Wigan Athletic FC and the jobs of the people who work for the club.
"Obviously the suspension of the Championship season due to COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the recent fortunes of the club.
"Wigan Athletic has been a focal point and source of pride for the town since 1932 and anyone who is interested in buying this historic sporting institution should contact the joint administrators directly."
The Latics are 14th in the Championship with six games left to play. Manager Paul Cook's side beat Stoke City 3-0 on Tuesday night.
Mr Stanley told Sky News' Tom Parmenter: "Our aim is to finish the season, we're working with the board at the minute. The club's well run on a day-to-day basis and the board are honest, hard-working people. The chairman has been here 10 years so they've got a lot of experience and we're tapping in to that experience.
"Our view is that we've got money in the bank to get to away games and put home games on."
Mr Stanley said that while the club's finances looked stable, he was not sure if the issue was with the owners' finances which is why administrators were called in.
The English Football League said the club would be subject to a 12-point deduction, but that the timing of it could only be decided upon once the final Championship table is determined.
If the club are relegated by on-field results, the sanction would be applied in League One next season.
If the club stay outside of the bottom three, the sanction would be applied to the 2019-20 table.
If the sanction were applied currently, the Latics would be bottom of the table, four points adrift of safety.
The club were in the Premier League as recently as 2013, winning the FA Cup in the same year.
Wigan dropped down into League One in 2015 but made an immediate return to the Championship.
The club recorded a net loss of £9.2m in their most recent annual accounts for the year ending 30 June 2019.
That was an increase of £1.5m on the previous year.
The club were owned by JJB Sports co-founder Dave Whelan until November 2018, when he and his family sold to the Hong Kong-based International Entertainment Corporation (IEC).
There was a further change of ownership on 29 May of this year, when IEC divested its ownership to Next Leader Fund.
IEC said in a letter to fans its decision came "after thorough assessment of several factors including the club's financial position, management team and objectives, particularly the promotion to the Premier League".
The DW Stadium is a dual-use stadium which is also used by the rugby league team Wigan Warriors.
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