The next coaching change at VfL Wolfsburg was perfect. The Bundesliga club confirmed late in the evening that Dutchman Paul Simonis had to leave again just four months after his summer signing. For now, U-19 coach Daniel Bauer has taken over the position as a temporary solution. The 43-year-old had done this in May as Ralph Hasenhüttl’s short-term successor.
The split with Simonis “hurts him personally,” said sporting director Peter Christiansen, who fought for his job. “Paul is a thorough trainer who works with great passion, skill and passion.” Nevertheless, one must “honestly state that in football, results and points ultimately count. And developments in recent weeks have not gone the way any of us expected.”
In particular, VfL lost six of its last seven matches in the Bundesliga, including a 1:2 loss on Friday night at Werder Bremen. There was a humiliating defeat in the DFB Cup against second division club Holstein Kiel. As a result, 40-year-old Simonis became the fifth coach to fail at Wolfsburg since Oliver Glasner led the Volkswagen club to win the Champions League in 2021 and then left. Mark van Bommel, Florian Kohfeldt, Niko Kovac, Hasenhüttl and now Simonis: everyone had to leave early.
Urs Fischer, Tim Walter and former coach Bruno Labbadia are currently considered potential successors. Marco Rose and Edin Terzic, who were initially traded, may be unavailable and out of reach. Matthias Jaissle, who is highly regarded at Wolfsburg, should be bought out of his contract with Saudi Arabian club al-Ahli.
Simonis came to Wolfsburg in the summer with the recommendation of leading provincial club Go Ahead Eagles Deventer to Dutch Cup glory and thus their first title in 92 years. At VfL he should give the team a new face and a new style of play with more dominance and possession. But both of them were never seen. In the sporting crisis that has occurred in the last few weeks, the Dutch player seems increasingly confused.
But Simonis also failed due to circumstances he couldn’t help. The biggest problem this season is the squad planning for Christiansen and sporting director Sebastian Schindzielorz. The two formed a team over the summer with serious design flaws. Transfers such as Vinicius Souza from Brazil and Jesper Lindström from Denmark have so far fallen short of expectations. A much-needed center forward didn’t arrive at all in the summer.
Even the signing of Danish star Christian Eriksen has so far made no sense from a sporting point of view. Six other players are available in two positions in midfield. Recently even captain Maximilian Arnold and goalkeeper Marius Müller spoke openly about the lack of cohesion and major attitude problems in the squad.
Simonis never found a solution to this problem. But many of the things he has to endure are now under the responsibility of sporting director Christiansen. The 50-year-old Dane came to Wolfsburg in 2024 to completely restructure the club – so far without any results. His and sporting director Sebastian Schindzielorz’s work has long been discussed at VfL.
