Erik ten Hag sacked by Bayer Leverkusen after just two league games in charge
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Former Bayer Leverkusen coach Erik ten Hag now has the unwanted record of being the earliest firing during a Bundesliga season, having lasted just two league matches.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LEVERKUSEN – Bayer Leverkusen have sacked coach Erik ten Hag after just two Bundesliga matches in charge, the German club announced on Sept 1, with the weekend draw at Werder Bremen not enough to save his job.
Fired by Manchester United in October 2024, ten Hag joined Leverkusen as the successor to Xabi Alonso
“This decision was not easy for us. Nobody wanted to take this step,” sporting director Simon Rolfes said in a statement. “The past few weeks have shown the steps to build a new and successful team have not been effective.”
Club chief executive Fernando Carro said the decision was “painful, but necessary”.
The sacking means the 55-year-old Dutchman now has the unwanted record of being the earliest coach to be fired during a Bundesliga season, breaking the previous mark of five matches.
Named United manager in July 2022, ten Hag won the FA and League Cups but was let go after a run of just one win in eight matches midway through the 2024-25 season, the club’s worst start to a campaign in the English Premier League era.
Taking over after the most successful period in Leverkusen’s history, with an unbeaten league and cup double in 2023-24 including the first Bundesliga title in the club’s 120-year history, ten Hag was tasked with overseeing a dramatic rebuild.
Leverkusen lost several core members of the team this summer, including Florian Wirtz, Granit Xhaka, Jonathan Tah, Jeremie Frimpong, Amine Adli and Lukas Hradecky, who had helped them finish second in the Bundesliga last season.
The club did not name a replacement for ten Hag, saying “the training work would be taken over by the assistant coaching staff for the time being”.
Ten Hag became Leverkusen coach on July 1. His first match in charge was a 5-1 drubbing by Flamengo’s Under-20s in a friendly in Brazil.
After a 4-0 win over fourth-tier Sonnenhof Grossaspach in their German Cup opener, Leverkusen claimed just one point from their first two Bundesliga fixtures.
Leverkusen let a one-goal lead slip to lose 2-1 at home to Hoffenheim and on Aug 30 conceded two late goals against 10-man Werder Bremen to draw 3-3, having led 2-0 and 3-1.
Before the game, ten Hag had said that he was no Harry Potter and also spoke of the final days of the transfer window, but that will no longer concern the Dutchman.
“One or two things could still happen on the weekend for us and for the whole transfer market,” he told reporters.
“On Tuesday, we will know what it (the squad) will look like.”
On Aug 31, German outlets Bild and Kicker both reported he was facing the sack, despite his short tenure at the club.
Ten Hag was tasked with bedding in more than a dozen new signings ahead of this season, including several young players.
The three most expensive signings in the club’s history – Malik Tillman, Jarell Quansah and Eliesse Ben Seghir – all arrived this summer, for a combined cost of €102 million (S$153.4 million) plus bonuses. AFP, REUTERS
