Second division Werder Bremen surprisingly parted ways with coach Markus Anfang on Saturday morning. This was preceded by speculation about a possibly falsified vaccination certificate and investigations by the public prosecutor.
“Due to the now extremely stressful situation for the club, the team, my family and myself, I have decided that I will end my job as Werder Bremen’s head coach with immediate effect. I therefore have the people responsible for the immediate termination of my contract I wish Werder against Schalke today and maximum success for the future, “said Anfang, who had only been in office since the beginning of the season and was eighth in the second division with Werder.
At the same time, assistant coach Florian Junge resigned, who “very much regrets” the end. As managing director Frank Baumann explains, the duo “are taking responsibility with their step and are thus helping to end the unrest that has arisen around the club and the team in the last few days. We respect their decision and are now going to stand up.” looking for a new head coach. “
On Thursday it became known that there were investigations against the 47-year-old at the beginning because of a forged vaccination certificate. Initially, the beginning had firmly rejected the allegations and stated in an official association statement: “Just like every other double-vaccinated citizen, I received my two vaccinations in an official vaccination center and received the appropriate sticker in the yellow vaccination certificate. I then digitized it in the pharmacy permit.”
Meanwhile, however, there are serious doubts about the credibility of these statements. The corresponding entry on the Werder homepage disappeared since Saturday morning. According to Frank Baumann, there have been “further developments and a different situation since Friday, the facts have changed a bit,” said the Werder managing director in an interview on club TV on Saturday: “The accusation that is in the room is really massive. “
Werders Filbry: “Very clear evidence”
Werder’s CFO Klaus Filbry also spoke buten un inside in this direction: “The main reason was that we sat down with the police again on Friday evening. There we received very clear circumstantial evidence. The police then sat down again with Markus Anfang and Florian Junge. And then they both informed us that they want to resign with immediate effect. We have accepted that accordingly. “
Baumann made further statements before the game against Schalke 04 on Saturday evening: “The situation had worsened dramatically. It was not a nice situation for everyone involved. You believe that in almost 30 years of professional football you have seen almost everything, but then it will come but always adding new facets, “he said Sky and pushed: “Markus has declared his willingness to cooperate from the start. The public prosecutor’s office ordered a search warrant, Markus was then immediately ready to show the vaccination card. He has already sent a copy to the health department because we had with Marco last week Friedl had a positive Corona case and had to present proof of vaccination. “
When asked whether he still believes the denial made on Friday, Baumann said: “If a preliminary investigation is initiated, the presumption of innocence applies. We confronted Markus with the accusation and he assured us that there was nothing to it. Then Of course, you believe your employee first. I believe that there should be a leap of faith. At this point in time, we had no precise information, no indications of what the initial suspicion was Procedure cannot go into details. “
at Sport1 Baumann made it clear what he expected if the allegations were to be confirmed: “Nowadays it would be strongly condemned if someone forged a vaccination card during a pandemic. That doesn’t have to mean that Markus did that too. But if he did yes, one must proceed with all severity. “
Start: Werder training during the vaccination appointment?
On Friday, the public prosecutor’s office confirmed that there was a complaint from the Bremen health department. Furthermore she wants image have learned additional details in the case. Accordingly, there were “abnormalities in the initial yellow vaccination book”. There were “inconsistencies” between “the vaccine batch number and the signature of the vaccinating doctor”.
the Deichstube also added that a vaccination appointment took place at a time when he started out as a trainer for Werder. On Friday evening, according to the portal, the police are said to have initially confiscated the vaccination certificate, saying that they had come to the stadium with a search warrant. Beginning and young are said to have handed over their vaccination certificates.
“We obtained a resolution that would have entitled us to search his apartment. That was not necessary because the documents we wanted were made available to us,” said public prosecutor Frank Passade image. “In the course of the week we will be able to clarify to what extent the vaccination card is actually false.”
Werder’s professional boss Fritz infected with Corona
On Saturday evening against Schalke 04, the team was looked after by the Austrian assistant coach Danijel Zenkovic. U19 head coach Christian Brand steps in as an assistant. “We informed the coaching team and the team about the new starting position this morning before training. We absolutely trust Danjiel to successfully prepare the team for the game tonight,” explained Baumann, who joined the search for a coach Sport1 said: “We wanted to build something new with Markus and we had the hope that we would create something here with our young players over several years. We are now carefully examining the candidates and want to find our new coach as quickly as possible.”
It wasn’t the only bad news for Werder on the morning of the Schalke game. As the club announced, professional soccer director Clemens Fritz tested positive for Corona.
The infection of Fritz was found in the course of a corona case in the private area of the former Werder player. The 40-year-old has already gone into quarantine at home and can therefore not sit on the bench of the green-whites in the top game of the North German league on Saturday evening (8.30 p.m. / Sky) against Schalke 04.
“Clemens is currently doing well, he has no symptoms. We are in close contact with the health department. The quarantine only affects him, as all hygiene measures in dealing with the team were observed and a corona test on Thursday was still negative” , explained Bremen’s team doctor Daniel Hellermann.