Bundesliga News

Kicker Report:
Matarazzo, Tedesco, and Schreuder among TSG coaching candidates

By Peter Weis   @PeterVicey

Michael Piper of Germany's Kicker Magazine has published an update on the search for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim's next head-coach. 
Domenico Tedesco.
Domenico Tedesco.Photo: Steffen Prößdorf, CC BY-SA 4.0
Following the official sacking of trainer André Breitenreiter earlier today, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim have five days to decide who will coach the team in its next fixture; a matchday 20 encounter with Bayer 04 Leverkusen. The expected firing of a head-coach is generally coupled with the confirmation that an interim coach - usually one of the assistants - will lead the squad in the next match. Hoffenheim have made no such announcement, fueling some rumors that the Sinsheimers might be preparing for a larger administrative shake up.


Germany's main sporting tabloid has already linked former VfB Stuttgart trainer Pellegrino Matarazzo with the vacant post. The move would make sense as the New Jersey native actually worked for the club for two-and-a-half years as the coach of the U17s and later an assistant under former TSG gaffer Julian Naglesmann. Another former Hoffenheim U17 trainer, Domenico Tedesco, also appears to be in the mix. Both Matarazzo (Stuttgart) and Tedesco (Leipzig) were released by their respective top-tier sides earlier this season.

Michael Piper of Germany's Kicker magazine reports that both Matarazzo and Tedesco are part of the club's thinking process, though neither one has been contracted yet. There's already been some talk that Hoffenheim might be interested in bringing back former coach Alfred Schreuder; sacked at the end of the 2019/20 campaign despite the fact that he led the club to an Europa League berth. The Kraichgauer wanted to make way for Sebastian Hoeneß at the time; a German footballing scion who summarily failed in his two-year-tenure with the club.

Schreuder and his long-time assistant Matthias Kaltenbach eventually settled in Holland at Ajax. The duo spent 18 months in charge of the Dutch champions. Both wee sacked some ten days ago and could be on their way back to the Rhein-Neckar region. Piper writes that the club might be interested in bringing back Kaltenbach, but only as an assistant coach. Piper doesn't directly address the Schreuder rumors. One can nevertheless assume that, if the club wants Kaltenbach, Schreuder is part of the package.


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