Former Bremen coach Kohfeldt appointed Wolfsburg helmsman

Wolfsburg, Germany (dpa) – Wolfsburg have signed Florian Kohfeldt as their new coach until 2023, the Bundesliga club said on Tuesday.

Kohfeldt, 39 and formerly at Werder Bremen, succeeds Mark van Bommel who was dismissed after just five months on Sunday.

Wolfsburg won the first four league matches under the Dutchman but have managed just one point from the following five and are winless in eight games in all competitions.

Kohfeldt was Bremen coach from November 2017 until the penultimate round of the past season in which the club was relegated.

His first game in charge of the ninth-ranked team will be on Saturday at Bayer Leverkusen, followed by a Champions League date with Salzburg next week.

Van Bommel’s assistant Michael Frontzeck was named caretaker on Monday but now Kohfeldt will be in charge to steady the ship, with his official presentation set for Thursday.

“I didn’t have to think twice about accepting this challenge. It’s an exciting challenge which I’m really looking forward to,” Kohfeldt said in a club statement.

“Above all, I’ll use the short time until the next game to hold lots of talks and get an initial overview. There’s a lot of quality and dynamism in this team and we’re now going to work together to bring that back onto the pitch.”

Kohfeldt is said to get on well with young players and favours attacking football which could likely implement better with Wolfsburg than with Bremen in the past.

“We’re pleased that we’ve been able to reach an agreement with Florian Kohfeldt and are convinced he can identify with our approach and that we’ll return to winning ways together,” sporting director Marcel Schaefer said.