Bundesliga: First coach dismissal of the season – VfL Bochum parts ways with Zeidler

VfL Bochum has drawn conclusions from the weak start to the season and parted ways with coach Peter Zeidler, who was only hired in the summer, and sports director Marc Lettau. The bottom of the table announced this one day after the 3-1 defeat at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.

Bochum caused the first coach dismissal of the current Bundesliga season. After eight competitive games without a win, the Revierclub had lost its trust in the work of the 62-year-old football teacher Zeidler. There is currently no successor. It was said that the association would provide information about further action as soon as possible.

“There is a lack of conviction that VfL can achieve the goal of staying in the league with the current personnel constellation,” said the club statement. “Despite many discussions and efforts in the past few weeks, it has not been possible to achieve significant improvements in terms of sport or tables.”

The first round exit in the cup at second division club Regensburg (0:1) as well as the unsuccessful Bundesliga games against Leipzig (0:1), Mönchengladbach (0:2), Freiburg (1:2), Kiel (2:2), Dortmund (2nd). :4), Wolfsburg (1:3) and Hoffenheim (1:3) proved to be too heavy a burden for Zeidler. The fall to last place in the table encouraged the club’s management to take action. In the Bundesliga season so far, VfL has only picked up one point.

Less credit than its predecessors

Unlike his previous club FC St. Gallen, where Zeidler stayed from 2018 to 2024 and thus became the longest-serving coach in the top Swiss league, he had to leave Bochum after just a few months. He was supposed to initiate the rebuilding of the Revierclub after the separation from Thomas Letsch last April and the successful rescue mission of interim solution Heiko Butscher with the narrow victory in the relegation against Düsseldorf.

But unlike at the start of last season, when the first victory only came on matchday ten and Letsch remained in office, Zeidler had less credit. According to reports, not only the lack of success but also the mood within the team contributed to the separation. In addition, after various drops in the team’s performance in the second half, allegations were made that the professionals lacked fitness.

Zeidler was still fighting after the defeat at TSG Hoffenheim on Saturday: “This is a team that is alive. People know that I fully identify with myself, that I am hard-working and also very competent. And because that’s the case, I’m a coach at VfL Bochum and hopefully for a very long time.”

The bottom team now wants to intensify the search for a new football teacher. According to reports, former Schalke coach André Breitenreiter is one of the candidates. The 51-year-old had to vacate the coaching chair at the English second division team Huddersfield last May and was already considered a contender for the Bochum coaching chair in the summer.

A difficult starting program awaits the Zeidler successor. In the next four games, VfL will all face top teams like FC Bayern, Eintracht Frankfurt, Bayer Leverkusen and VfB Stuttgart.