Leipzig fires coach Rose amid Champions League qualification struggle

LEIPZIG, Germany (AP) — Jürgen Klopp’s friendship was not enough to save him.

Leipzig fired coach Marco Rose on Sunday with the team in danger of missing out on Champions League qualification.

The Red Bull-owned club also dismissed Rose’s coaching team of Alexander Zickler, Marco Kurth and Frank Geideck, and the head of first team soccer Frank Aehlig, in a shakeup it hopes will prompt a reaction from the team before Wednesday’s German Cup semifinal at Stuttgart.

Rose’s last game in charge was Saturday’s 1-0 loss at Borussia Mönchengladbach, the team’s sixth successive away game without a win, and the third without scoring. It meant Gladbach moved above Leipzig to fifth in the Bundesliga while Leipzig will drop to seventh if Freiburg avoids defeat against Union Berlin on Sunday.

Only the top four qualify for the Champions League. Leipzig lost all but one of the team's eight games in the tournament this season.

“Given the development and the continued lack of results, we’re all firmly convinced that we need new impetus for the remainder of the campaign in order to achieve our aims for the season,” Leipzig sporting director Marcel Schäfer said.

Rose, who is a friend of Klopp, Red Bull’s head of global soccer since January, took over at Leipzig in September 2022 and twice led the team to Champions League qualification. He also oversaw its German Cup win in 2023.

The club said it will announce his replacement “in due course.”

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer