Struggling Bundesliga side Hoffenheim on Thursday sacked coach Holger Stanislawski after their German Cup exit midweek to second division club Gruether Fuerth.
Club manager Ernst Tanner admitted that "the lastest sporting developments had certainly been decisive" in the decision to part company with Stanislawski and two of his assistants.
"We like Holger Stanislawski as a person and a coach but after a long talk with him we came to the conclusion that it was better that we end our association," said Tanner.
Greuther Fuerth joined Bayern Munich, Borussia Moenchengladbach and Borussia Dortmund in the semi-finals of the German Cup after they shocked Hoffenheim 1-0 on Wednesday.
Hoffenheim have won just one of their last 10 Bundesliga games and are sitting in eighth position with 24 points, ahead of Wolfsburg and Cologne on goal difference.
Stanislawski, 42, began his coaching career in 2006 at St Pauli, leaving that club to join Hoffenheim last summer.
He becomes the fifth coaching casualty in the Bundesliga this season after the sacking of Freiburg, Hertha Berlin and Hamburg's coaches with Ralf Rangnick resigning from Schalke 04 because of health problems.
Source: AFP
