Union Berlin officially part company with Bjelica

Despite seemingly giving him a vote of confidence prior to kickoff against Bochum yesterday, Union Berlin confirmed on Monday that Nenad Bjelica had been dismissed from his post as the club's head-coach. Die Eisernen - following yesterday's home loss to Bochum - find themselves mired in the relegation fight once again. It had been reported that Bjelica and the club had already decided to go separate ways after the season last week. 

Union are in 15th-place on 30 points with two match-days remaining. The relegation playoff place lies directly below them. FSV Mainz 05 trail Union by only a single point. On Monday, the club confirmed that Marco Grote will once again take over the team. Grote led the squad for a one match interval in November between Urs Fischer's sacking and Bjelica's installation. 

Club President Dirk Zingler - who just backed Bjelica yesterday - issued a club statement explaining his several of course. FCU managing director Oliver Ruhnert also released a statement. Grote will once again be joined by assistant coaches Sebastian Bönig and Marie-Louise Eta. The latter - the first female assistant to coach at this German football level - was also part of Bjelica's team. 

"In the fight to stay in the Bundesliga, we require the strength of the entire club and, of course, that of our team," Zingler's statement read, "We trust Marco Grote and his team to lead our players back to their performance limits. I would like to thank Nenad Bjelica and his team for the work they have done. They have succeeded in stabilizing the team in an extremely difficult situation, with the result that we can manage to stay in the league on our own."

"We are giving our team fresh impetus once again," Ruhnert aded, "The players want to stay in the Bundesliga with Union, I'm absolutely convinced of that. We want to give them our full support and are relying on a coaching team that knows our club inside out and is passionate about this task."