Chaos at Hannover 96
Sports director wanted to fire coach – and is thrown out himself
March 23, 2026 – 8:02 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
Hannover 96 and Jörg Schmadtke are ending their collaboration again after just three months. There are said to have been power struggles over coach Titz in the background.
The departure of Jörg Schmadtke as sports director at Hannover 96 caused a stir on Sunday. The second division club announced that the cooperation would be ended “amicably”. But that’s probably only true to a limited extent, as the “Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung” (HAZ) reports. There is said to have been a violent power struggle in the background – which now ended to the 62-year-old’s disadvantage.
There is said to have been a heated argument between Schmadtke, who only took over at the beginning of the year, and 96 shareholder Gregor Baum during a game in the stadium box. Reason for this: Coach Christian Titz.
Schmadtke and some professionals are said to have been extremely critical of the coach, according to “HAZ”. Schmadtke is said to have already thought about firing Christian Titz at the beginning of the second half of the season. According to “HAZ”, the team should no longer stand united behind the coach. The fact that Hannover has only lost two competitive games so far in 2026 is said to have masked the actual problems.
Another reason why Titz has been allowed to stay so far: According to “HAZ”, the majority of the 96 shareholders are said to have spoken out in favor of the coach due to the good sporting situation. Thanks to the 1-0 win against Eintracht Braunschweig last Friday, the Lower Saxony team is in fifth place, just two points behind a direct promotion place. A potential squad for the Bundesliga has long been planned in the background with Christian Titz.
In the coming weeks, Hannover will face three of the four teams ahead of them in the table one after the other.
