Two of the biggest names in German coaching — Felix Magath and Jupp Heynckes — were replaced, and not to be out done, Hamburg made it a hat trick of coaching casualties on Wednesday when it fired Coach Thomas Doll.
Bundesliga champion Bayern Munich fired Magath and replaced him with former boss Ottmar Hitzfeld a day after a 0-0 tie at home with relegation candidate Bochum left it in fourth place, eight points behind leaders Werder Bremen and Schalke 04. When play resumed last Friday after the winter break, Bayern was only three points off the lead.
“We had to react due to concern over a Champions League place for next season,” Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said in a statement. Only the top three finishers in the Bundesliga go through to the Champions League.
Magath replaced Hitzfeld in July 2004 and guided the club to league and cup doubles in each of his first two seasons in charge. Bayern sold star Michael Ballack in the offseason, and it’s struggled to replace him in midfield. Hitzfeld, who has been appointed until the end of the season, coached Bayern from 1998 until 2004.
Heynckes resigned as coach of Borussia Moenchengladbach on Wednesday, a day after a 0-0 tie with Nuremberg left the club in 17th place in the 18-team Bundesliga and without a win in 13 matches.
“We all regret this move very much,” Moenchengladbach president Rolf Koenigs said. “He’ll always be a Borussia man.”
Heynckes, 61, was in his second stint as Gladbach coach. He was brought in last season and helped it avoid relegation. He starred at Moenchengladbach as a player in the 1970s when it was one of Europe’s dominant clubs and he ranks as the No. 3 scorer in Bundesliga history. He coached Moenchengladbach for eight seasons before moving to Bayern Munich, which he led to the Bundesliga title in 1989 and 1990. Heynckes’ greatest success was in leading Real Madrid to the 1998 European Cup title that ended the Spanish club’s 32-year drought in the competition. He’s coached at eight clubs in Germany, Spain and Portugal.
Assistant coach Jos Luhukay will take charge of Moenchengladbach for Saturday’s Bundesliga game at Arminia Bielefeld. Gladbach’s captain is American keeper Kasey Keller.
Hamburg slipped to last place in the standings with Wednesday’s 1-1 draw against Energie Cottbus. HSV informed Doll of the decision shortly before midnight.