Less than a week after he masterminded Eintracht Braunschweig‘s return to the 2. Bundesliga, Marco Antwerpen has left the club.
The club confirmed that his contract, which had expired at the end of the campaign, would not be renewed. His assistant, Kurtulus Öztürk, has also left.
The former Preußen Münster coach had taken over the club in November with the team fifth in the 3. Liga having fallen off after a good start.
They only won two of his first eight games in charge but a superb run after the post-coronavirus restart saw them charge up the table and secure promotion on the penultimate matchday. Nevertheless, that wasn’t enough to justify keeping him on.
“We are extremely grateful to Marco Antwerpen for the work he has done over the past few months,” said Sebastian Ebel, chairman of the supervisory board. However, he added that the club “had to evaluate the entire course of the season,” with their assessments leading them to decide on a different direction.
Tellingly, the statements were not made by sporting director Peter Vollmann, who is reported to have advised the board to offer Antwerpen a new deal.
As well as Antwerpen and Öztürk, another member of the coaching staff, Jonas Stephan, also left on Tuesday, to take over the Chemnitzer FC U19 team.
According to the Braunschweiger Zeitung, Daniel Meyer and Alois Schwarz are amongst the candidates to replace Antwerpen, Unlike him, both have previous 2. Bundesliga experience. Former Erzgebirge Aue coach Meyer appears to be the front-runner at this early stage.
2liga.net 