Wolfsburg announce Nico Kovac sacking

Wolfsburg announced on Sunday the sacking with immediate effect of their head coach Niko Kovac after the team lost again the day before, this time 1-3 to Augsburg, and dropped to 14th place in the Bundesliga standings from a total of 18 points.

"VfL Wolfsburg have parted company with head coach Niko Kovac with immediate effect. In talks our managing director Marcel Schafer informed him of the decision on Saturday evening," the club said in a statement.

His side have won just six games and lost 13 out of 26 in the Bundesliga so far.  They have not won since 16th December, when they beat Damrstadt 1-0 on matchday 15. Since then they have gone 10 games without a win, with four defeats and six draws.

Alongside the 52-year-old Croatian, his brother and co-coach Robert Kovac and fellow assistant coach Aaron Briggs will also have to leave German side. For Niko Kovac, it is yet another setback in his career after being sacked by Bayern Munich and Monaco in his most recent projects.

"After the defeat against Augsburg, after an internal review of the game and our overall situation, we took the decision to end our cooperation. We regret what happened and believe it is necessary to give the team a new impetus to stabilise the situation," the club explained.

Niko Kovac joined Wolfsburg for the 2022-23 season, but the club believes the last year and a half has not been characterised by a "reliable, professional and pleasant cooperation with the team, the club's employees and of course especially with Marcel Schafer" and other managers, the statement said.