On Wednesday morning, 1. FC Kaiserslautern announced the departure of coach Dimitrios Grammozis. The successor has now been determined.
Friedhelm Funkel is the new coach of the second division club 1. FC Kaiserslautern. The club confirmed this on Wednesday afternoon. The “Kicker”, among others, had previously reported on Funkel’s sensational comeback. The 70-year-old is the successor to Dimitrios Grammozis, who was fired on Wednesday morning.
Funkel is no stranger to Kaiserslautern. As a player, he played 89 competitive games for the “Red Devils” and was involved in the legendary 5-0 victory over Real Madrid in 1982 with two goals.
Kaiserslautern is in a relegation battle
After a strong start to the season, Kaiserslautern slipped into the bottom of the 2nd Bundesliga table and is in serious danger of relegation as sixteenth place in the table with 21 points after 21 games. In November, the club released coach Dirk Schuster and presented Grammozis as his successor. However, the 45-year-old was unable to initiate a turnaround and suffered five defeats in six second division games. Reaching the DFB Cup semi-finals after victories over 1. FC Nürnberg in the round of 16 and Hertha BSC in the quarter-finals was not enough to save his job. After just 72 days, Grammozi’s chapter in Kaiserslautern has been history again since Wednesday.
Funkel should now manage to stay in the league and, if possible, lead the Lauterers into the cup final. In the semi-finals they will face the winner of the postponed game between Borussia Mönchengladbach and 1. FC Saarbrücken. Funkel will make his debut on the sidelines next Sunday against 1. FC Nürnberg.
For Funkel, who had actually declared his coaching career over, it is a return to the coaching bench after almost three years. At the end of the 2020/2021 season, he had already stepped in as a firefighter in the Bundesliga and saved 1. FC Köln from relegation in the relegation. Just a few weeks ago, Funkel announced to have “tasted blood” again and to be interested in being a coach.