Sports director Jonas Boldt has to leave HSV after again missing out on promotion to the Bundesliga. The 42-year-old was released. Boldt’s successor at Hamburg will be former national player Stefan Kuntz.
HSV announced this on Tuesday evening. “We have completed our very detailed analysis process and have come to the decision that we need and want a new sporting impulse after missing promotion for the sixth time in a row,” explained Supervisory Board Chairman Michael Papenfuß. The 69-year-old thanked Boldt for “the work he has done outside of the core topic of sport”. The previous sports director “built a lot here,” said Papenfuß.
Boldt, who has worked for the former Bundesliga “Dino” since May 2019, presented his ideas for the future to the six-member supervisory board the previous week, according to consistent media reports. His plan is said to have included, among other things, hiring a technical director. Now the Nuremberg native, who worked at Bayer Leverkusen before his time at Sylvesterallee, has to leave Hamburg.
Boldt: “There remains a positive overall feeling”
Boldt apparently does it without rancor. “It was a challenging and beautiful time in which we moved a lot, fought and I also learned a lot,” he is quoted in the HSV statement. “In addition to the still great disappointment that we didn’t succeed in promotion, there remains a positive overall feeling. It was an honor to have worked with so many great people,” added the 42-year-old.
Kuntz should lead HSV into the Bundesliga
During his tenure, Hamburg missed a return to the Bundesliga five times. Boldt was probably not allowed to make another attempt because the change of coach from Tim Walter to Steffen Baumgart in the middle of the past season did not bring the hoped-for success. Now, with Kuntz, the “next attempt will be made to lead the ‘Rothosen’ back into the Bundesliga,” as the fourth-place team in the second division said in a statement.
“Stefan comes from football, has management experience and will find structures and responsibilities that have been established here and should develop them further in a focused manner,” explained Papenfuß. Kuntz will be officially presented to HSV in the coming days.
European champion brings experience as a manager and coach
The 61-year-old European champion from 1996 was already a candidate for the HSV coaching position last December. At that time, the second division team initially held on to Walter before he was replaced by Baumgart in February. Kuntz has already worked as sporting director for VfL Bochum and as chairman of the board for 1. FC Kaiserslautern.
After his successful time as a German U21 coach, he most recently worked as Turkey’s national coach from 2021 to 2023.
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Hamburg Journal | May 21, 2024 | 19:30 o’clock
