WOLFSBURG, Germany (AP) – Wolfsburg has fired its sports coach and managing director after the team’s winless run in the Bundesliga extended to eight games. Brawl scenes and anger scenes on the field From the fans.
Wolfsburg announced on their website that manager Daniel Bauer had been sacked on Sunday morning, following the sacking of Peter Christiansen the night before.
This comes after Wolfsburg lost 2-1 at home to Hamburger SV, dropping the Volkswagen-backed club into the relegation zone with nine matches remaining.
Wolfsburg’s sporting director Pirmin Schwegler said of the decision to sack a new coach this season: “We wanted to turn things around together. After analyzing the overall situation, we came to the conclusion that we need to give the team new impetus in order to secure our place in the league.”
Paul Simonis is was fired in November Bauer, originally the coach of the Under-19 team, was appointed on an interim basis after the team’s lackluster start.
Masked Wolfsburg fans were enraged by the defeat and threw smoke bombs onto the field, sending black smoke billowing up behind the goal while the players fought their Hamburg rivals in a melee on the field.
Fans held up banners before the game saying this was the team’s last chance and they supported the players. Later, a banner was put up that read: “Opportunity wasted, support withdrawn.”
The day before, hundreds of Wolfsburg fans had attended team training to encourage the players.
Christiansen has been the managing director of sports since 2024.
Supervisory Board President Sebastian Rudolph said of the 51-year-old Christiansen: “He has managed the personnel changes in women’s football very well together with our sports management. Unfortunately, we lacked the sporting achievements of the men’s team.”
Bauer has held various roles at the club since 2016, working with the academy.
The club announced that it will announce a new head coach “in the near future”.
Dieter Hecking has returned and is reportedly the front-runner to lead the Volkswagen-backed club to safety.
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