Gisdol replaces Labbadia at Hamburg

Hamburg have confirmed Markus Gisdol as their head coach after Bruno Labbadia was sacked in the wake of Saturday’s home defeat by Bayern Munich.

The 47-year-old was most recently in charge of Hoffenheim having previously been assistant coach at Schalke and also worked at SSV Ulm and SC Geislinger earlier in his career.

He was sacked by Hoffenheim in October 2015 despite having penned a new three-year contract just six months earlier.

After succeeding Marko Kurz in April 2013, he was credited with saving Hoffenheim from relegation that season and in the following campaign he led them to a creditable ninth-place Bundesliga finish. 

Gisdol becomes Hamburg’s ninth coach in the last five years after Labbadia paid the price for a poor start to the new season.

Despite spending big on new players, the former European Cup winners are yet to secure a league win this season and find themselves languishing in 16th place.

They produced a valiant display against Bayern, eventually losing to an 88th-minute goal, but that performance was not enough to prevent Labbadia’s second spell in charge at the Volksparkstadion from coming to an end.

At Gisdol’s own request, he has been handed a contract that runs only until the end of the season.

Frank Frohling and Frank Kaspari have been named as his assistants.