Bo Svensson is no longer the coach of 1. FSV Mainz 05. The 44-year-old Dane has announced his resignation according to consistent media reports. With the words “This is not about me, this is only about the club,” Svensson informed the team and sports director Christian Heidel of his decision on Thursday afternoon, as the Internet portal “Sport1” writes.
Mainz recently hasn’t won 14 games across all seasons. In the current season, the team is in last place in the Bundesliga after only three draws and six defeats. On Wednesday evening, Mainz also flew out of the DFB Cup with a smooth 3-0 defeat against second division club Hertha BSC Berlin. Sports director Martin Schmidt avoided a clear commitment to Svensson after the bankruptcy in Berlin. A successor has therefore not been determined. Until further notice, U-23 coach Jan Siewert is taking over the team as an interim solution and will look after them against RB Leipzig on Saturday (3:30 p.m.).
Svensson himself has a long history in Mainz. From 2007 to 2014 he played 109 games for the club as a central defender. In January 2021 he finally returned as coach and confidently led the then relegation candidate to stay in the league with the best second half of the season in the club’s history. Last season, Mainz was on course for the European Cup for a long time and ended up eighth. In the current situation, Svensson apparently no longer saw himself in a position to lead Mainz out of the crisis. At the beginning of the week he had ruled out resigning. After the defeat against Hertha, the mood changed. The team wants to get out of the worst crisis in years with Svensson, but it is “stagnating at all ends,” said Schmidt.
