Leverkusen

Struggling Hannover replaces Breitenreiter with Doll

Published Jan. 27, 2019 2:14 p.m. ET

HANNOVER, Germany (AP) — Relegation-threatened Hannover fired coach Andre Breitenreiter on Sunday after eight Bundesliga games without a win, then hired former Dynamo Berlin midfielder Thomas Doll as his replacement.

The club said Doll, who coached Hamburger SV and Borussia Dortmund before coaching stints in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Hungary, agreed a deal late Sunday to take over through June 2020.

"He knows the Bundesliga inside out," Hannover general manager Horst Heldt said in a club statement.

Breitenreiter, who led Hannover back to the top flight as second-division runner-up after taking over in March 2017, had been under pressure before the team's 5-1 loss at Borussia Dortmund on Saturday.

"This decision is very difficult for us and for me personally because the work between Andre and me was extremely close and trusting the whole time," Heldt said.

Hannover has only two wins in 19 rounds of the Bundesliga and is currently separated from last-placed Nuremberg by goal difference.

The club is the third in the league to fire its coach this season after Stuttgart and Bayer Leverkusen.

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