Two days after the official separation from André Breitenreiter, Bundesliga soccer club TSG Hoffenheim introduced Pellegrino Matarazzo as coach. He doesn't have much time.
TSG Hoffenheim hopes for better times with coach Pellegrino Matarazzo
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim has signed coach Pellegrino “Rino” Matarazzo as successor to André Breitenreiter and wants to use the 45-year-old in the relegation battle of the soccer Bundesliga exist. The former head coach of VfB Stuttgart has been given a contract until June 30, 2025 with the Kraichgau team, who are in serious trouble.
Hoffenheim announced the separation from Breitenreiter on Monday. He was 2-5 at VfL Bochum without a win in his tenth competitive game in a row and had to leave after a little over half a year in office.
“Rino not only knows our club, but also a large part of the team from our own experience. Conversely, we also know him and are therefore convinced that he is the right man for the head coach position,” said sports director Alexander Rosen in a message from table 14. “He can handle pressure and knows , which is required in this situation.”
Debut against Leverkusen
Matarazzo had to leave VfB Stuttgart in October 2022 – after a league series of nine games without a win. With the new coach, TSG will now face Bayer Leverkusen next Saturday.
Since the departure of current Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann in 2019, TSG has lacked continuity in this position. The club of billionaire and majority owner Dietmar Hopp last played in Europe in the 2020/21 season.
This development does not correspond to Hopp's ideas, who would like to see his club continuously in international business. That's why Breitenreiter was the third TSG coach in a row after Alfred Schreuder and Sebastian Hoeneß to have to leave early. As a result, all of Nagelsmann's successors did not make it to the original end of their contract.
Back to the roots
Matarazzo lives with his family just a few kilometers from the training center in Zuzenhausen. “I'm convinced of the quality of the team and I approach the task full of vigor and with great confidence,” said Matarazzo.
The mathematician and Italian-American graduated with his friend Nagelsmann and was a football teacher under him assistant coach in Hoffenheim. In December 2019 he left Kraichgau to become head coach at VfB. In 2022 he managed to stay up with VfB with a 2-1 win against 1. FC Köln in added time on the 34th matchday.
ck/jk (dpa, sid)