You can make a message small by making it small. That’s exactly what he does Hamburger SV one day after New Year’s Day when he announced his departure from Stefan Kuntz. A few sober sentences, a thank you, the climb is mentioned, almost casually. No pathos, no big farewell. Not just anyone goes with Kuntz. He is the man who led HSV back to the Bundesliga, who represented a new beginning after five unsuccessful attempts under former sports director Jonas Boldt. So why, many people are asking themselves, is the farewell so strangely cold?
If Stefan Kuntz When he took over as sports director in May 2024, it was a big deal. Kuntz was a player himself for a long time, he became European champion in 1996, he coached the U21 national team for many years and was chairman of the board of 1. FC Kaiserslautern. He is known for his friendly, charismatic nature, he almost always has a smile on his face and is never above having fun. The 63-year-old should give HSV sporting competence, experience and, above all, a face. There was great hope for him. “When I leave at some point, I want to be able to say to myself in the mirror: I have turned over every stone,” Kuntz said in the HSV documentary Always Hamburg quoted by ZDF.
Kuntz came at a time in which the club increasingly began to doubt whether it would even be possible to return to the Bundesliga. His mission was clear – and in the end he delivered what his predecessors had failed at: In May 2025, HSV was promoted back to the First Football Bundesliga after seven years in the 2nd division. This was successful because Kuntz relied on the right people. However, not always with full conviction: After coach Steffen Baumgart was released in November 2024, Kuntz received a few rejections – such as from SC Paderborn, who did not want to let their coach Lukas Kwasniok go in the middle of the season for a million euros – and sometimes he found no supporters on the supervisory board, as was the case with his former teammate Bruno Labbadia, whom he wanted to hire as a coach. When the interim coach and former assistant coach Merlin Polzin achieved good results and the mood around the club turned, Kuntz took the full risk with the then 34-year-old. And the plan worked.
Shortly after the Christmas holidays, Kuntz surprisingly asked the supervisory board to terminate his contract immediately for family reasons. “Sometimes there are more important things than football,” said Kuntz in the official press release. “That’s the case with me now.” The Bild-Newspaper writes about a serious case of illness in the immediate family circle.
After the holidays, things were obviously very busy at HSV. Michael Papenfuß, the head of the HSV supervisory board, spoke in a club press release of a “very intense time between the years and no gentle end to the year 2025”. An exit in the middle of the season at this point apparently caught the controllers completely unprepared. Apparently the supervisory board asked: Couldn’t he have taken a few weeks off? Or at least stay until the end of the winter transfer period? However, the separation took place immediately.
There is no time pressure, says the head of the HSV supervisory board
The loss of the most prominent head of HSV management in the middle of the Bundesliga season – it should actually be a bitter setback for the club. But soon after the “intensive time” the traditional club apparently doesn’t want to know anything about it.
Papenfuß says in the cool press statement on the club’s website that they are very well positioned. And: There is no time pressure. But why not? Isn’t the sports director the most important position – especially now in the transfer phase? Especially since the winter transfer period is open until the end of the month and the club is in the middle of ongoing personnel issues. Goalkeeper Daniel Peretz, for example, is currently trying to force his release for a change with a training strike. Such situations require leadership and moderation.
In fact, there is currently an internal discussion as to whether the sporting sector absolutely needs a sports director again. The HSV has a distinct operational level and has a number of directors and employees for a wide variety of areas. Sports director Claus Costa has been responsible for HSV squad planning for years. He regulates the current transfers and contract discussions anyway. Kuntz, as sports director, only made the final decision at the end. Accordingly, Kuntz’s departure will initially have little impact on day-to-day business. The processes remain the same, the responsibilities have been clarified. Now the remaining board member Eric Huwer is moving more into focus; Costa will have to coordinate with him. Huwer was previously mainly responsible for financial issues, but now he runs the entire office alone with well over 200 employees.
Instead of replacing Kuntz, the board positions could simply be given a different structure, for example additional areas of expertise. The fact that HSV is taking this path also suggests that the profile of a possible successor has apparently not yet been defined. Are you now looking for a proven football expert or a manager with an economic background and a fresh outside perspective? HSV does not want to officially comment on this.
There is also no provision for an interim solution to relieve Huwer’s workload. Internally, it is assumed that only Henrik Köncke, club president and member of the supervisory board, and Markus Frömming, deputy chairman of the supervisory board and representative of investor Klaus-Michael Kühne, are accompanying him more closely. Both were already involved in many discussions and processes with the board, team and office before Kuntz’s departure.
When it comes to strategically important personnel decisions in management at HSV, the rule at HSV is obviously: no rush. Whether the principle works remains to be seen.
