Dortmund sack Bosz as coach and appoints Stoeger

DORTMUND: Borussia Dortmund sacked Peter Bosz as coach after managing just one win in 13 games across all competitions and named former Cologne coach Peter Stoeger (pic) as his replacement.

Stoeger was sacked as Cologne coach the previous Sunday after his side failed to win any of their opening 14 Bundesliga games of the season.

The club said the 51-year-old Stoeger and his assistant coach Manfred Schmidt, who was also let go by Cologne, were signed until June 30, 2018.

“I’m delighted to be able to be coach of this team and in this stadium,” said Stoeger, who joined Cologne in 2013 and led them to promotion from the Second Division in his first season.

Stoeger oversaw steady progress at Cologne, culminating in fifth place and Europa League qualification last season.

But this season didn’t go to plan. Bosz’s last game in charge of Dortmund was Saturday’s 2- 1 defeat at home to relegation-threatened Werder Bremen, a loss that stretched the side’s winless run to eight games in the league.

“We decided yesterday evening in a talk with Peter Bosz that we’re letting him go with immediate effect,” Dortmund chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke said. “It was emotional.”

Dortmund previously had a 41-game unbeaten run at home, but since Leipzig inflicted a 3-2 loss on Oct 14, the side slumped to two defeats and a draw at the Westfalenstadion.

The draw came after squandering a four-goal lead to allow bitter rivals Schalke to draw 4-4.

Bosz led Dortmund to their best-ever start in the Bundesliga with six wins and a draw from seven games and a league-high goal difference of 19.

They led the league by five points after beating Augsburg 2-1 away on Sept 30 but have not won since.

Now the side trail Bayern Munich by 13 points, a turnaround of 18 in just eight rounds.