VfB Lübeck has found a successor for the released coach Florian Schnorrenberg. The new coach was previously the sports director of an Oberliga club.

The relegation-threatened third-division soccer club VfB Lübeck presented a new head coach on Tuesday. Jens Martens has taken over at the second-last team in the table and signed a contract until the end of this season. The 68-year-old succeeds Florian Schnorrenberg, who had to leave after the 3-0 defeat to SC Freiburg II two and a half weeks ago.

Interim assistant coach Bastian Reinhardt then stood on the sidelines – and led VfB to an important 1-0 win against Jahn Regensburg. Reinhardt, like the other assistants Arvid Schenk and Gianluca Fraternali, will also play an important role under Martens.

The new head coach, who is expected to lead the promoted team to the six-point safety zone in the remaining games of the season, most recently worked as sporting director at Oberliga club SV Todesfelde. Lübeck has reached a “partnership agreement” with the club, and Martens will continue to advise Todesfeld.

“In Jens Martens, we have gained an experienced man from our region with a close connection to VfB as head coach, who already knows Bastian Reinhardt and Arvid Schenk well and whose ideas are congruent,” explained sporting director Sebastian Harms.

The Steinburg native, who played for Lübeck himself in the 1980s, was last on the bench at northern regional league club Eintracht Norderstedt between 2019 and 2022. He has also played for SV Henstedt-Rhen, TuS Holstein, Holstein Kiel and Bramstedter TS in the regional and top division.

Head of Sport Harms explains: “Jens will be able to contribute his experience from over 30 years as a coach to his decisions without making too many changes in the current phase. This continuity in our recent successful work was currently the most important priority for us in the fight to stay in the league when looking for a new head coach and I am convinced that this constellation gives us the best possible chance of being successful in the next eight games.”

The first of these is away to Viktoria Köln next Sunday (1.30 p.m., RS live ticker).