Hasenhuettl succeeds Kovac as Wolfsburg coach

BERLIN :VfL Wolfsburg appointed Ralph Hasenhuettl as coach on Sunday, hours after parting ways with Niko Kovac following Saturday's 3-1 home loss to Augsburg which was their third league defeat in a row.

Austrian Hasenhuettl, who coached RB Leipzig and Ingolstadt in the Bundesliga before a four-year spell at Southampton in the Premier League until 2022, will officially be presented on Monday.

Earlier on Sunday, Wolfsburg managing director Marcel Schaefer said a change of coach was needed "to give the team a new impulse, in order to stabilise the situation".

Wolfsburg's last league win dates back to Dec. 16, and the team have now gone 11 consecutive Bundesliga matches without a victory. Saturday's defeat sent the Wolves down to 14th in the league.

"(Hasenhuettl) signed a longer contract with the club and will lead training from Tuesday onwards," Wolfsburg said. It gave no details on the duration of the deal.

Kovac, a former Croatia international who also coached Bayern Munich in 2018-19, took over at Wolfsburg ahead of the 2022/23 campaign and led them to an eighth-place finish in his first season in charge.

This season, however, has been anything but successful with the team currently on 25 points, six above the relegation playoff spot.