SSV Jahn Regensburg are fighting to stay in the 2nd Bundesliga and are relying on a new coach in the final weeks of the season.
SSV Jahn Regensburg is acutely threatened with relegation in the 2nd Bundesliga. Three matchdays before the end, the team at the bottom of the table is two points behind the relegation place, the first non-relegation place is already six points away.
After six games without a win, the Bavarians have now drawn personnel consequences – and released their head coach Mersad Selimbegovic. The club made the announcement on Tuesday morning.
A successor will be found immediately, the club added. Until a new coach is found, the current coaching team of Jonas Maier, Markus Palionis, Thomas Barth and Marco Langner will take over.
This marks the end of an era in Regensburg. Selimbegovic had already been in charge since summer 2019 and was the longest-serving coach of all second-division clubs after Heidenheim’s Frank Schmidt. In total, the 41-year-old Bosnian had already been at the club since 2006. First as a player, then as an assistant and youth coach.
“The release of Mersad is anything but easy for us, because we hold him in high esteem, both professionally and as a person. SSV Jahn owes him a great deal,” emphasised Hans Rothammer, chairman of the supervisory board.
“His long loyalty to the club, combined with his enormous identification with the club and his constant striving for further development, have made Mersad an increasingly important companion for SSV Jahn over the course of time. It is therefore all the more regrettable that we now find ourselves at a point where we have to set a new stimulus in the fight to stay in the league.”
Selimbegovic himself spoke of an “extraordinary time” at Jahn, “which I associate with many valuable encounters, positive experiences and sporting successes. I wish the Jahnelf the very best for the remaining games.”
The SSV’s remaining programme is a tough one: home games against promotion candidates Heidenheim and Hamburg, with a trip to Eintracht Braunschweig in between.