Mission to stay up completed: Magath resigns from Hertha and goes "chopping wood"

The contract lasted until the end of the season and Felix Magath’s time at Hertha BSC ended with the final whistle in the relegation second leg. The experienced coach ensures the Berliners stay up in the league. After the win at Hamburger SV, he clearly shattered the hints that he could stay longer.

After the rescue of Hertha BSC, coach Felix Magath announced his departure from the Bundesliga club. “Now that’s it. My job is over now. I’m glad and happy that we stayed in the league,” said the 68-year-old after the 2-0 (1-0) win in the relegation second leg at Hamburger SV late in the evening . With the final whistle and the associated, his task at the capital club was fulfilled. He will “go home now and chop wood,” Magath said in a Sky interview after the end of the game.

It is not yet clear who should lead Hertha into better times as a coach in the Bundesliga. One of the candidates is the former Mainz coach Sandro Schwarz, who is currently employed by Dynamo Moscow and has remained in Russia despite the war in Ukraine.

Magath was brought to Berlin by Hertha managing director Fredi Bobic in mid-March as the last hope – Hertha had slipped to relegation rank 17. Before that, the former master coach of FC Bayern and VfL Wolfsburg had not been present on the Bundesliga stage for almost ten years. Many of his great rescue efforts in the relegation battle, including with Eintracht Frankfurt or VfB Stuttgart, are much longer in the past.

In fact, Magath was once again successful with his methods. The Berliners not only won the first game under Magath against 1899 Hoffenheim (3-0). A bitter derby defeat against Union Berlin (4-1) was followed by victories against direct competitors in the relegation battle of FC Augsburg (1-0) and VfB Stuttgart.

But then an almost unbelievable negative streak set in, accompanied by an unusual purposeful pessimism from Magath, who formally talked about slipping to the relegation rank. In Bielefeld (1:1), against Mainz 05 (1:2) and Borussia Dortmund (1:2) the relegation was lost carelessly or with a lot of bad luck. In the relegation against HSV, success returned just in time.

Magath had repeatedly flirted with staying in his Berlin days. Ultimately, however, there was no basis for long-term cooperation. “I know that I don’t need to worry about the future, so I’m taking it easy,” said Magath.