Jurgen Klopp sacks former player in first firing of Red Bull reign

03/30/2025 05:51 AM

RB Leipzig have sacked Marco Rose.

The club also confirmed his assistants Alexander Zickler, Marco Kurth, Frank Geideck and Frank Aehlig have all been let go.

Leipzig’s decision to axe Rose came less than 24 hours after a 1-0 loss to Borussia Monchengladbach.

The 48-year-old departs with Leipzig sitting 6th in the Bundesliga and three points off the Champions League places.

"We have believed in our co-operation with Marco and his team for a very long time and, up to now, tried everything to turn things around together,” Marcel Shafer, Leipzig’s Managing Director for Sport, said.

“Given the development and the continued lack of results, we're all firmly convinced that we need new impetus for the remainder of the campaign in order to achieve our aims for the season.

“We'd like to thank Marco and his coaching team for the past two and a half years, the success we enjoyed together and their commitment to the club."

Rose’s axing marked the first firing of Jurgen Klopp‘s reign as Red Bull’s head of global football, a job he began on January 1.

It undoubtedly would have been a gut-wrenching decision for Klopp to make given the latter managed Rose for several years during their time together at Mainz 05.

In fact, German outlet Bild reported earlier in March Klopp persuaded Leipzig’s decision-makers to stick with Rose after Leipzig slipped to a 2-1 loss against Mainz on March 1.

The defeat reportedly prompted Leipzig’s management to hold a crisis meeting to discuss Rose’s future but ultimately elected against sacking him thanks to Klopp’s plea.

But it only proved to be a stay of execution for Rose, who departed having led Leipzig for 125 games.

Under Rose, Leipzig claimed just their second DFB-Pokal in club history when they beat Eintracht Frankfurt in June 2023.

He also steered Leipzig to two berths in the UEFA Champions League.

However, Leipzig’s performances in the league phase of this year’s Champions League were not up to the lofty standards expected.

Leipzig won just once and lost the remaining seven of their eight games as they finished 32nd out of 36 teams.

Their only win came against Sporting CP in the second-last game of the league phase.

Leipzig have also won just twice in their last 11 Bundesliga fixtures.

However, they remain in the hunt for the DFB-Pokal as they face Vfb Stuttgart in the semi-finals.

Leipzig will announce a new interim head coach in due course.