Status: 10/24/2021 6:15 p.m.
VfL Wolfsburg has parted ways with head coach Mark van Bommel with immediate effect. The Lower Saxony had recently not won eight competitive games in a row.
The quick decision of the VfL officials was surprising in that the day before, after the 2-0 defeat against SC Freiburg, there was little or nothing to suggest it, despite the negative streak. Sports director Marcel Schäfer said he did not want to take part in a coaching discussion at this time explained on the sidelines and spoke of a “challenge that we face”. Overnight, however, the realization matured that someone else would face this challenge.
How hard this hit van Bommel was clear from the association’s declaration. He was “surprised and disappointed” by the decision, said the 44-year-old, who only took over the club in the summer as the successor to Oliver Glasner (moved to Eintracht Frankfurt): “Because I am convinced that we would have made it together to get back on the road to success. I wish the team that they can quickly turn things around again. “
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The best start to the season has long since faded
However, it is undisputed that the poor performance of the North Germans did not meet the requirements. Van Bommel had introduced himself very poorly with his mistake in the DFB Cup, which led to the embarrassing first round off at the green table against Prussia Münster. Then VfL got the corner with the best start to the season in the club’s history – only to slip into a black series of eight games without a win. This cost van Bommel his job on Sunday: despite all oaths of loyalty, after just 115 days in office.
Curious: nine years ago – on October 25, 2012 – a 2-0 defeat against SC Freiburg also cost a VfL coach his job. Felix Magath, like van Bommel, now had to go after four Bundesliga escapes in a row. While eight coaches in Wolfsburg have given each other in the hasnd since then, the coach in Breisgau is still Christian Streich, as it was back then.
Schmadtke: “More divisive than unifying factors”
“The bottom line was that there were more separating than connecting factors. The conviction to get out of the difficult sporting situation in this constellation and to bring about a turnaround as quickly as possible was missing and made us decide to end the cooperation,” said VfL managing director Jörg Schmadtke. What the Wolfsburg coaching team will look like for the upcoming games has not yet been determined. Information about this should be given “promptly”, announced the association.
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