Early separation: Arne Friedrich leaves Hertha BSC immediately

premature separation

Arne Friedrich is leaving Hertha BSC earlier than expected. The club had already announced at the beginning of February that the 42-year-old would not extend his contract as sports director in the capital after the summer. Now the collaboration is even coming to an early end.

A mutual decision was made to separate early, Hertha BSC explained on Monday. “In an open discussion, we have now jointly determined that, with a view to planning for the coming season, it makes more sense to end the cooperation now,” explained sporting director Fredi Bobic of the decision.

Friedrich explained: “For various reasons, however, I have had the feeling over the past few months that I no longer have enough influence on important sporting decisions to do justice to my duties as sporting director. That’s why we decided together to end the collaboration early.” The ex-pro added: “I am and will remain a Herthaner. I wish the team and everyone who is involved in our club that the short and medium-term success that this club and its people deserve will come.”

I returned to Hertha BSC in autumn 2019 to support the club and do my part to stabilize it. We went through the different challenges together and I always had the feeling (1/4) pic.twitter.com/bk9MknkG5f

— Arne Friedrich (@arnefriedrich) March 7, 2022

Friedrich initially joined as performance manager under Jürgen Klinsmann in November 2019, before being promoted to sports director in July 2020. After the dismissal of sports director Michael Preetz in January, he temporarily took over his duties. In February he said: “The past two and a half years have been very intense and marked by changes. We have lived through many ups and downs, whereby the positive moments clearly stand out for me.” For Friedrich, there are projects that he has not been able to pursue in recent years. However, he had not yet formulated any concrete plans for the period after the summer.

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