Wolfsburg sack Klaus Allofs

Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg on Monday confirmed that they have parted company with their managing director of sport and communications, Klaus Allofs.

"After in-depth analysis conducted over the past few weeks, we have decided in view of the current difficult sporting situation to make a change in his position," the chairman of the supervisory board, Francisco Javier Garcia Sanz said in a statement posted on the club's website. He also thanked Allofs for his work at the club. 

Allofs, 60, who joined Wolfsburg from Werder Bremen in 2012, had been coming under increasing pressure this season, as the club, which has aspirations of regularly qualifying for the Champions League, stumbled early and often in the Bundesliga.

Sacking head coach Dieter Hecking after just one win in seven games, and replacing him with the inexperienced Valerien Ismael didn't have the desired effect, as the club continued to slide down the standings. Wolfsburg, a wholly owned subsidiary of carmaker Volkswagen, have lost five of their seven games since Ismael took over in mid-October.

Allofs' fate appears to have been sealed by Saturday's 5-0 defeat at the hands of Bayern Munich. His cause was also not helped by the fact that Julian Draxler, the player he brought it at the start of last season to replace the departed Kevin De Bruyne, went public in the summer with his desire to leave Wolfsburg. Like the rest of the team, Draxler has underperformed under both coaches, so much so that the young national team player didn't even make the trip to Munich.

Allofs' two other biggest signings, Max Kruse and André Schürrle, also failed to deliver, with both leaving the club last summer.

The club's biggest success during his tenure was winning the German Cup and finishing second in the Bundesliga in 2015, which saw the Wolves qualify directly for the Champions League.

pfd/rd (dpa, SID)