After the surprising departure of Stefan Kuntz, HSV is looking for a new sports director. Oliver Bierhoff, it is said, should be one of the candidates. The long-time DFB manager has a history with the club.
It was the big surprise shortly after the turn of the year. On the morning of January 2nd, HSV announced that the collaboration with sports director Stefan Kuntz would be ended. The Bundesliga soccer team announced that the 63-year-old had asked the supervisory board to immediately terminate his employment for personal family reasons.
Under Kuntz, who started working at HSV in May 2024, HSV managed to get promoted back to the Bundesliga last year after a seven-year absence. It is now up to the Hamburg supervisory board to find a successor.
Several profiles, constellations and names will be discussed in the coming weeks. As far as the latter is concerned, according to information from “Sport Bild”, Oliver Bierhoff is apparently also one of them – as was the case in 2024, when HSV was looking for a successor to Jonas Boldt, who was dismissed at the time. The former national team manager and director of the German Football Association (DFB) has a past in Hamburg. Bierhoff, 57 years old, played for the two-time European Cup winners for one and a half years from 1988.
If, as “Sport Bild” reports, Hamburger SV is looking for a new face with public appeal, the 1996 European champion and former DFB team-mate of Kuntz is considered an interesting candidate in addition to his leadership qualities and his past as a player. Bierhoff became self-employed after leaving the DFB at the end of 2022. Today he looks after former top athletes as an asset manager.
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Striker Downs before loan deal
There is a lot of movement at HSV, not just in terms of the management level – but also in terms of the team. It looks like the current management team has managed a small derby victory off the pitch. In courting the services of US international Damion Downs, he reportedly held his own against Werder Bremen. As “Bild” first reported on Tuesday, the 21-year-old attacker from the English second division club FC Southampton, in whom Bremen were apparently also interested, is already in Hamburg.
A loan deal is being discussed until the end of this season. Downs had just moved from 1. FC Köln to Southampton for around ten million euros before this season. In order to improve his chances of participating in the World Cup with the US team, Downs is now moving back to Germany. He had failed to score in eleven games for Southampton. Downs scored 13 goals in 42 competitive games for Cologne.
DW
