False start and loss of confidence: VfL Bochum throws out promotion hero Reis

Six days of play, zero points, plus plenty of playful trust in the board: Bundesliga soccer club VfL Bochum is parting ways with coach Thomas Reis.

False start and loss of confidence: VfL Bochum throws out promotion hero Reis

Six days of play, zero points, plus plenty of playful trust in the board: Bundesliga soccer club VfL Bochum is parting ways with coach Thomas Reis. Despite the catastrophic start to the season and the derby defeat at FC Schalke 04, the hero of the promotion campaigned for himself to the end.

Bundesliga bottom VfL Bochum reacted to the negative record at the start of the season and released coach Thomas Reis. The club announced this on Monday, two days after the 1: 3 in the tram derby at promoted Schalke 04. With zero points and 4:18 goals, VfL is in a worse position after six matchdays than any other Bundesliga club before them.

"It should be clear to everyone that this decision is not easy for us," said sporting director Patrick Fabian: "Thomas Reis has a connection to the club and the city that goes beyond the successful past three years." However, the former VfL professional also made it clear: "We urgently need to find solutions to improve the very difficult sporting situation and at the same time ignore issues that have a negative impact on it."

Reis (48), a player in Bochum from 1995 to 2003, took over the post of head coach at the then second division club in September 2019. In 2021 he led the traditional club back to the Bundesliga after eleven years and managed to stay up in the league last season. In addition to Reis, assistant coach Markus Gellhaus has also been released, with U19 coach Heiko Butscher taking over on an interim basis. In the summer, Reis wanted to switch to neighbors Schalke, but was not approved by the club's management. The negotiations about a contract extension initially failed, the unrest grew when the Schalke flirt became known.

Reis had repeatedly emphasized how difficult the second year after promotion would be. Financially not exactly luxuriously endowed, VfL invested the smallest sum of all 18 first division clubs in transfers. The team has not yet been able to absorb the departures of several top performers. Now a new coach should do it better on Castroper Straße. Next Sunday there is a home game against 1. FC Köln.