Only there since summer
VfL Wolfsburg is apparently separating from coach Simonis
Updated on November 9, 2025 – 4:06 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
VfL Wolfsburg is deep in crisis. There was also a defeat at Werder Bremen. This obviously has consequences for the coach.
According to consistent media reports, Paul Simonis’ end at VfL Wolfsburg has been sealed. According to the pay-TV broadcaster Sky, the Bundesliga club will part ways with its head coach. “Bild” also reports on it. The 40-year-old had already been informed of the decision. Discussions with potential successors are already underway in the background.
Wolfsburg lost 2-1 at Werder Bremen on Friday. It was the sixth defeat of the season for Lower Saxony, who only have eight points after ten games. VfL has also already been eliminated from the DFB Cup. At the end of October, the “Wolves” embarrassed themselves in the second round in front of their home crowd against second division club Holstein Kiel.
Simonis had only taken office in the summer and wanted to lead Wolfsburg back into international business. But the reality in the Autostadt is currently a relegation battle.
The conditions were actually good. Simonis came to Wolfsburg as a successful coach and had achieved a sensational coup in his home country, the Netherlands, last season. With the Go Ahead Eagles he completely unexpectedly won the cup. His team defeated AZ Alkmaar in a penalty shootout.
Simonis is already the fifth failed coach in Wolfsburg since Oliver Glasner led the Volkswagen club to the Champions League in 2021 and then left. Mark van Bommel, Florian Kohfeldt, Niko Kovač and Ralph Hasenhüttl were also prematurely relieved of their duties before Simonis.
At VfL, Simonis was supposed to give the team a new face and a new style of play with more dominance and ball possession. But nothing of either was ever seen. In the sporting crisis of the past few weeks, he seemed increasingly at a loss.
But Simonis also failed due to circumstances for which he could not help. The biggest problem this season is the squad planning by sports director Peter Christiansen and sports director Sebastian Schindzielorz. The parent company Volkswagen provides VfL with around 80 million euros per year. However, the sports management put a lot of effort into building a team in which nothing fits together.
Transfers such as the Brazilian Vinícius Souza and the Dane Jesper Lindstrøm have so far remained far below expectations. The urgently needed center forward didn’t come at all in the summer. Even the signing of Danish star player Christian Eriksen has so far made no sense from a sporting perspective. Six other players were already available in his two positions in central midfield. Recently even captain Maximilian Arnold and goalkeeper Marius Müller spoke publicly about the lack of cohesion and a major attitude problem within the squad.
Simonis never found a solution to this problem. But much of what he now has to endure falls under the responsibility of sports director Christiansen. The 50-year-old Dane came to Wolfsburg in 2024 to completely restructure the club, so far without any success. His job and that of sports director Sebastian Schindzielorz have long been discussed at VfL.