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As a player, he played 89 times for FCK: Friedhelm Funkel

Photo: Jansen / Jan Huebner / IMAGO

The relegation-threatened second division soccer team 1. FC Kaiserslautern has separated from coach Dimitrios Grammozis. As the club announced, a successor has already been chosen and he will lead training for the first time on Wednesday afternoon. Just 72 days after he took office, the traditional club responded to the decline under Grammozis in the 2nd league.

The new coach has not yet been officially introduced, but according to reports from “Bild”, “Kicker” and SWR, Friedhelm Funkel will take over the position.

The former FCK professional last trained 1. FC Köln for a few months in 2021 and saved them from relegation from the Bundesliga. »I still live 100 percent football. And when I was last standing on the sidelines again, I noticed that the tingling sensation was still there," Funkel told the dpa news agency on his 70th birthday in December. "I don't rule out doing something as a trainer again."

During his active time, Funkel played 89 competitive games for the FCK, and as a coach he was on the sidelines for various clubs in over a thousand games in the 1st and 2nd league, although he has never coached the Lauter team.

In addition to Grammozis, the Palatinate team also released his assistant coach Sven Piepenbrock. Under Grammozis, who only took office on December 3rd as Dirk Schuster's successor, the Lauterers lost five of six second division games. "With the exemption, the FCK is reacting to the recent sporting results in the league, which have not taken the positive turn that was hoped for," said Kaiserslautern.

Semi-finals in the cup, relegation battle in the league

Grammozis won the DFB Cup round of 16 against 1. FC Nürnberg and the quarter-finals at Hertha BSC with the Palatinate team. In the semi-finals the club will face the winner of the catch-up match between Saarbrücken and Borussia Mönchengladbach. If they win, the team would be in the cup final in Berlin.

In the league, however, FCK fell to 16th place in the table. With only 21 points, the club is level on points with second-to-last Hansa Rostock in the second division and has to fear falling into the third division two years after being promoted again. After the recent 2-1 home defeat against SC Paderborn, fans called for Grammozis to be separated.

mlb/dpa