Wednesday May 26, 2021
From Wolfsburg to Frankfurt
Oliver Glasner is the new Eintracht trainer
Eintracht Frankfurt has found its new coach. The Bundesliga soccer team gets its newcomer from competitor VfL Wolfsburg. Oliver Glasner succeeds his Austrian compatriot Adi Hütter, who is moving to Borussia Mönchengladbach.
According to media reports, Oliver Glasner from VfL Wolfsburg will be the new coach of Eintracht Frankfurt. The Austrian is leaving Lower Saxony after two successful years, although he has only just led VfL into the Champions League and will only compete in the Europa League next season with the Bundesliga rivals from Frankfurt.
First the “Kicker” and then the “Bild” newspaper reported that Glasner, as the successor to his compatriot Adi Hütter, was to receive a three-year contract with Eintracht. After the change from Hütter to Borussia Mönchengladbach became known, names such as Edin Terzic (Borussia Dortmund) or Gerardo Seoane (future Bayer Leverkusen) were traded in the Hessians. For the Wolfsburg team, the former Bayern professional Mark van Bommel is now the favorite to succeed Glasner. He coached the Dutch top club PSV Eindhoven until December 2019.
Glasner’s contract with VfL originally ran until 2022. But reports about an exit clause, the 46-year-old’s lack of commitment to staying and an apparently strained relationship with sports director Jörg Schmadtke have recently made a very successful cooperation more and more difficult.
Conflict with club management almost escalates
Glasner came to Wolfsburg in 2019 as the successor to Bruno Labbadia. He had previously led Linz ASK from the second division to the Europa League in his home country. In his first Bundesliga season he confirmed the success of his popular predecessor Bruno Labbadia and again led VfL to a Europa League place. The elimination in the two playoff games against AEK Athens was the biggest sporting setback of his time in Wolfsburg. This also gave the team a lot of time and energy to develop into a Champions League candidate in Glasner’s second season.
Thanks to the Austrian’s meticulous work, numerous players such as Maximilian Arnold, Wout Weghorst, Ridle Baku and Maxence Lacroix made a big leap in performance in Wolfsburg. But there was a conflict right from the start: In Linz, Glasner was used to making all sporting decisions. At VfL, however, managing director Schmadtke and sports director Marcel Schäfer determine the personnel planning and transfer policy.
This conflict almost escalated in November when Glasner regretted the failed signing of another offensive player. Since then, trainers and managing directors have made no secret of the fact that their personal relationship is only very distant. Since Glasner left his future in Wolfsburg open for weeks, his move to Frankfurt is no longer a surprise.
.