Football
Associated Press 6y

Hamburg fire coach Markus Gisdol, expect to appoint successor 'soon'

Hamburg have sacked Markus Gisdol as coach following the side's 2-0 defeat at home to last-placed Cologne in the Bundesliga.

Hamburg said their board of directors and sporting director Jens Todt came to the decision to let Gisdol go, along with assistant coaches Frank Froehling and Frank Kaspari, and that they were informed on Sunday morning.

Defeat to Cologne the night before was their fourth in succession and it left them just three points off the bottom.

Hamburg chairman Heribert Bruchhagen said via the club's Twitter account: "It wasn't an easy decision to make. But we are convinced that there was no alternative at this point in time.

"We will unveil our new coach soon. We need to formalise a few things first -- we know already who the new coach will be.

"We expressed our gratitude to Markus Gisdol. We hadn't anticipated the current situation that we find ourselves in. Now we need to scrutinise ourselves too. A new head coach should give us a boost and take away any uncertainty in the team.

"The new head coach will take team training on Monday at 15:00."

Gisdol had been in charge since Sept. 25, 2016 but never managed to steer the side away from the bottom half of the table. Hamburg -- the only side to have played every Bundesliga season since the league's formation in 1963 -- finished one point above the relegation zone last season.

While they finished five points clear in 2016, the club needed playoffs to survive in the two previous seasons.

Hamburg added that athletics coach Daniel Muessig will take over for Sunday's training session.

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