Bundesliga strugglers Hoffenheim on Tuesday announced that they had sacked head coach Marco Kurz and manager Andreas Mueller, and appointed Markus Gisdol to run the team.
Gisdol, a former reserve team coach between 2009 and 2011, left to become assistant coach at Schalke in December, was brought in with immediate effect and with the full approval of the board, the club said in a statement.
He will take charge of his first match this weekend against Duesseldorf.
Kurz's departure means the club, currently second-bottom in the German top flight, have now had three managers this season, after Markus Babbel left in mid-December at the end of the first half of the season.
Hoffenheim's fortunes have not improved since Kurz took over and last week lost 3-0 to Schalke.
In all, they have managed only 20 points this season and have the worst defensive record in the Bundesliga with 52 goals against.
Last month, Hoffenheim lost its biggest partner with the announcement that Chinese solar panel giant Suntech, a club backer since 2011 in a 4.5-million-euro annual deal, had declared itself bankrupt.
Source: AFP
