Club deep in relegation battle
Mainz 05 dismisses hapless coach Jan Siewert
February 12, 2024, 12:53 p.m
The Bundesliga soccer team FSV Mainz 05, which is in serious danger of relegation, is separating from coach Jan Siewert. Mainz lost 3-1 at VfB Stuttgart on Sunday – and had not won their last eleven games overall. It’s over for the coach on Rose Monday of all days.
FSV Mainz 05 has responded to the ongoing misery in the Bundesliga by separating from coach Jan Siewert. The second-to-last team in the table, without a win for eleven games, released the 41-year-old – he was only in office for three months. Siewert’s successor will be presented on Tuesday afternoon, as the Rheinhessen announced.
“Unfortunately, we now see the change in the coaching position as a necessary step in order to be able to bring about a positive turnaround,” said sports director Christian Heidel before the next game against FC Augsburg on Saturday (3.30 p.m./Sky and in the ntv.de live ticker). The club did not name a successor, but it is already clear that U23 coach Benjamin Hoffmann will take over the position.
“We expressly thank Jan for his commitment. He took on the task at a difficult time with a lot of passion and meticulousness and gave the team good impetus with his work,” emphasized Heidel: “Unfortunately, this did not translate into a fundamental turnaround or results “Depressed. The situation in the relegation battle has gotten significantly worse for us in the last few weeks.”
Only one victory was achieved
After Bo Svensson’s resignation, Siewert only took over responsibility for the Rheinhessen team as interim coach at the beginning of November. In December he received a contract as head coach. Siewert previously worked as junior head coach and U23 coach at FSV. Apart from his first game (2-0 against RB Leipzig), the former coach of Mainz’s second team did not win a game and drew six times. In the following eleven games, Mainz won six draws and five defeats.
After the 1:3 at VfB Stuttgart on Sunday, FSV sports director Martin Schmidt avoided a commitment to Siewert and announced a detailed analysis. “We’ll sit down together calmly and see what the next steps are. We have to change something, that’s clear,” said the Swiss. “It’s clear that we obviously can’t continue playing like this. We need victories.”
The Mainz team is threatened with their first fall from the upper house since their promotion in 2009. They are already nine points behind the first non-relegation place, which Union Berlin occupies. There is a four-point gap to the relegation place with 1. FC Köln.
The 05ers have had great coaches like Jürgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel in the past. But even Svensson, who saved Mainz from relegation in 2021 and then finished the season eighth in the table, did not become a permanent solution.
Before Siewert, two other FSV coaches were hit on Rose Monday: In 2001, Eckhard Krautzun was replaced by Jürgen Klopp – which began Klopp’s successful career on the sidelines. In 2015, the current Danish national coach Kasper Hjulmand had to give up his place for the current FSV sports director Martin Schmidt.