Stevens replaces Gisdol at Hoffenheim

Hoffenheim have sacked coach Markus Gisdol following a dismal start to the Bundesliga season, appointing former Stuttgart boss Huub Stevens as his replacement until the end of the campaign.

Under Gisdol, Hoffenheim won just one of their opening 10 Bundesliga fixtures, with the 46-year-old leaving the club second bottom after two years in charge.

Gisdol, who signed a new three-year contract in April, was appointed as Marco Kurz’s replacement in 2013 and kept the club up with a play-off victory against Kaiserslautern before securing a ninth-place finish in his first full season at the helm.

Hoffenheim, who finished eighth last term, will entrust Stevens with leading them away from the drop zone, the Dutchman having saved Stuttgart from the drop during two separate spells in the past two seasons.

Former Schalke boss Stevens replaced Thomas Schneider at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in March 2014. He left at the end of the 2013-14 campaign in May but then returned to take over from Armin Veh in November that year, keeping a struggling Stuttgart side in the top flight on both occasions.

“We were immediately impressed by our initial discussions and are convinced that Huub Stevens is the right solution,” Hoffenheim’s director of professional football Alexander Rosen said in a statement.

“The fact that the team has the necessary quality is something in which we are all firmly convinced.”

The 61-year-old’s first task as coach will be a trip to Cologne in the Bundesliga on Saturday.