Labbadia to quit Wolfsburg at end of season

Berlin (AFP) – Wolfsburg are looking for a new coach for next season after Bruno Labbadia announced on Tuesday he will leave in June and not renew his contract.

The surprise news follows reports of bad blood between the 53-year-old, who took charge in February 2018, and Wolfsburg’s sports director Jorg Schmadtke, which Labbadia never denied.

“Further collaboration would only be effective if there had been meaningful professional exchanges between those responsible at the club over the season,” said Labaddia in a statement.

“Since our visions do not match 100 percent, I took this decision myself,” he added, having earlier told the squad.

Wolfsburg’s 6-0 thumping at defending champions Bayern Munich on Saturday left them seventh in the Bundesliga table, three points from the European places.

In his single year in charge, Labbadia has turned fortunes around after Wolfsburg only survived relegation last season by winning a two-legged play-off against second division side Kiel.

The German media are already linking Marco Rose, currently head coach at Red Bull Salzburg, to the Wolfsburg vacancy, but the German is under contract in Austria until June 2020.