Ex-scorer takes over
Eintracht Frankfurt separates from coach Toppmöller
Updated on January 18, 2026 – 1:28 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
The next Bundesliga club fires its coach. The sporting results of the past few weeks did not allow for any other decision.
Eintracht Frankfurt has parted ways with coach Dino Toppmöller with immediate effect. Sky and “Bild” had previously reported. According to the club’s announcement, this is the result of “a comprehensive sporting and structural analysis of the past few weeks, taking into account the impressions of the first three games in the new calendar year.”
There were crisis talks with the Champions League participants after Eintracht’s 3-3 draw at Werder Bremen on Friday evening. According to “Kicker”, sports director Markus Krösche wanted to join forces with the main committee of the supervisory board for a teleconference.
After Frankfurt’s lucky last-minute goal at the start of the second half of the season, Krösche avoided making a clear commitment to Toppmöller and expressed clear criticism of Eintracht’s performance: “We’re discussing it now. We have to address the issues and see that we never show such performances again.”
Toppmöller has been criticized for a long time. Above all, he couldn’t get the defensive problems under control. His team conceded 39 goals in 18 league games. Frankfurt conceded nine goals in the first three league games of the year alone. With just one win from the last seven games, the Hessians are also in danger of losing sight of the European Cup places.
“As Eintracht Frankfurt, we have so far only inadequately lived up to our claim as Eintracht Frankfurt to stand for dynamic, aggressive and compact football this season,” Krösche is quoted as saying in the club’s statement. Toppmöller explained that he would have liked to continue working with the team, but accepted the decision and thanked him for the time together.
The Frankfurt team will be required to play against Karabakh Agdam in Azerbaijan on Wednesday in order to prevent an early exit from the Champions League. The team will be looked after on an interim basis by U21 head coach Dennis Schmitt and U19 coach and club icon Alexander Meier. The 43-year-old scored 137 goals in 379 games for the SGE and was top scorer in the Bundesliga in the 2014/15 season.
