In terms of contract
“It was incomprehensible to me,” said Stefan Reuter, head of sport at FC Augsburg, most recently about the departure of coach Markus Weinzierl, which was announced live on television after the last Bundesliga game in 2021/22. In an interview with “Sport Bild”, the 47-year-old countered the statements made by his former boss and justified his decision. This had mainly to do with the fact that Reuter had repeatedly put him off on the question of his expiring contract since winter. At this point, the Bavarian Swabians were swinging between 15th place and 16th relegation place.
When he signed in April 2021, it was clear that they would first look at one year, but would want to get together early on about the future, Weinzierl reported. “In September, Stefan Reuter said to me that it was clear to him: We’ll do this together for the next few years. My request during the winter break whether we wanted to talk was then postponed to March. In March, after staying up, after staying up after the season,” said the native of Straubing, who had played 154 competitive games for Augsburg between 2012 and 2016 on the sidelines.
Even after the resignation of club boss Klaus Hofmann for health reasons in May, Weinzierl addressed Reuter again: “I didn’t think it was right for me or for well-deserving players like Alfred Finnbogason that no talks were held at all. That’s one of the reasons why I chose this path on the last day of the game. If it hadn’t happened so much internally, I would of course never have done it that way!”
For Weinzierl it was the second departure from Augsburg after he decided to move to FC Schalke 04 in 2016 after four years in office. He returned to his old place of work in April 2021 and twice saved FCA from relegation. In 38 competitive games, he averaged just 1.16 points – 0.14 fewer than in his first term. His successor is Enrico Maassen.
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