Interim coach Nico Willig will definitely be in charge of VfB Stuttgart, the Bundesliga club threatened with relegation, only until summer. This was emphasized by Thomas Hitzlsperger, Sports Director, on Easter Sunday.
“We’ve agreed it clearly: It will run until the end of the season – and not beyond. There was a clear commitment from both sides, not a long discussion,” said the former international.
The previous U19 coach Willig (38) replaces the hapless Markus Weinzierl, who was dismissed after the 0:6 (0:3) debacle at FC Augsburg, in Table 16.
When asked whether the new coach had already been determined for the coming season, Hitzlsperger replied: “No, you don’t have to see it like that yet.
Willig could “give the insecure professionals exactly what they need now,” emphasized Hitzlsperger, who had accompanied the new man during his time as head of junior staff (until February): “I know him, his way of working and am convinced that he can manage it.
He doesn’t see an increased risk due to Willig’s inexperience, who only trained one season in the men’s singles with TSG Balingen (2013/14): “We never have a guarantee, not even for someone who has prevented the relegation three times already”.
Schwabe Willig led VfB’s U19 in first place in the South/Southwest Bundesliga and in the Junior Cup final. He has been working as a trainer for 16 years and has been with VfB since January 2016.
The former head coach of local rival kickers Francisco Paco Vaz and Tobias Rathgeb (last co-founder of the U17) will assist him as assistants. “He must have people around him whom he knows,” said Hitzlsperger, who said: “This is the worst Easter I have ever experienced.”
