Stanislawski to depart St Pauli

Holger Stanislawski will leave St Pauli at the end of the Bundesliga season and is rumoured to be in line for the Hoffenheim job.

Stanislawski, 41, became St Pauli coach in 2008, guiding the team to promotion from the 2. Bundesliga last season.

The Hamburg-based club have announced that Stanislawski will activate an opt-out clause to release him from his contract one season early.

Meanwhile, Hoffenheim have confirmed that caretaker coach Marco Pezzaiuoli – promoted from assistant following the departure of Ralf Rangnick in January – will not stay beyond the end of the current campaign.

Hoffenheim are 10th in the Bundesliga, but have only recorded one victory in their last eight matches.

“Obviously, it was not easy for Marco with the coach changes and the players who left in the winter,” club manager Ernst Tanner said.

“But following the developments in the last weeks, we decided to go into the new season with another coach.”

Stanislawski has quickly been installed as the most likely candidate to assume control at the Rhein-Neckar-Arena.

“Stanislawski is a favourite, but I cannot say whether he will come,” Hoffenheim owner Dietmar Hopp told the Mannheimer Morgen newspaper.

“He is always passionate about his team and is a coach who looks after his players.”