AUDIO: Jonas Boldt new managing director at Hannover 96 (1 min)
As of: May 28, 2026 4:48 p.m
Two years after leaving Hamburger SV, Jonas Boldt has a new job in German professional football. The 44-year-old will become Hannover 96’s sports director and successor to Jörg Schmadtke. The second division soccer team announced this on Thursday.
This position had recently only been filled on an interim basis since Marcus Mann moved to Salzburg and the brief appearance of Schmadtke, who resigned from his position last March after just three months.
Boldt will take up his post on June 1st and his contract runs until May 31st, 2029. “I am very pleased about the opportunity to take on responsibility at Hannover 96 in the future and am approaching the task with great enthusiasm,” said Boldt.
The new sports director made it clear right from the start that he wanted to continue working with sports director Ralf Becker and coach Christian Titz: “The discussions were open, clear and trusting from the start. Now it’s about getting to know the club well quickly and shaping the sporting future together with Ralf Becker and the coaching team around Christian Titz.”
Martin Kind praises competence and experience
The decision in favor of Boldt can be understood as a further sign of the renewed unity between the capital side and the eV in fourth place in the table last season, because according to media reports, both sides are said to have unanimously voted in favor of the 44-year-old.
In Boldt, the “Reds” have a proven football expert who is very well connected in the scene. “Jonas Boldt brings a high level of knowledge competence, market knowledge and experience in professional football. He has worked in responsible positions for many years. In the joint discussions, he conveyed a very clear picture of how he would like to structure and develop the sporting area,” said Hanover’s supervisory board chairman Martin Kind.
Stations in Leverkusen and Hamburg
Boldt most recently worked as sports director for Hanover’s northern rivals Hamburger SV for five years. However, the traditional club under him missed the desired promotion, which ultimately proved to be their downfall in 2024. After his resignation from HSV, the former manager and sports director of Bayer Leverkusen remained without a club.
Most recently, according to “Bild” information, Boldt is said to have rejected an offer from the Danish club FC Copenhagen. Instead of his first posting abroad, he now decided to work in Hanover. The goal of the “little HSV” is clearly to achieve what it missed with the “big HSV”: promotion.
