Low: Coaching changes could hurt Bundesliga
BERLIN - A flurry of coaching changes in Germany's top-flight this month could damage the Bundesliga's respectability, Germany coach Joachim Low warned on Tuesday.
Hours after Michael Skibbe was sacked by Eintracht Frankfurt and replaced by Christoph Daum in the latest of a string of changes, Low urged caution.
"Generally speaking we must make sure that the respectability of the league does not suffer," Low told reporters as his team prepares for their Euro 2012 qualifier against Kazakhstan on Friday.
"A lot has happened in the Bundesliga and we should stop and think about it," added Low, who earlier this month extended his contract with the national team to 2014. "I would not want to rate any individual case. That is up to the clubs."
In the past 15 days Bayern Munich, Schalke 04, Hamburg SV, Freiburg, Bayer Leverkusen, VfL Wolfsburg and Frankfurt have changed or decided to change their coach at the end of the season.
Champions League quarter-finalists Schalke sacked Felix Magath on Wednesday. Two days later he was appointed by relegation-threatened VfL Wolfsburg.
Germany team manager Oliver Bierhoff went a step further than Loew, calling for stricter rules for coaches.
"It would be good for the league to find rules," Bierhoff told reporters. "So that the Bundesliga could keep its good, respectable image it has built up through hard work."
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Last week Bayern coach Louis van Gaal, who will leave the club at the end of the season, called for coaching changes to be made during a "transfer window".
"The world is crazy," the Dutchman said. "It is not normal that Magath is in Schalke and then in Wolfsburg and [Ralf] Rangnick first in Hoffenheim and now in Schalke. I would never do that.
"There is a transfer window for players and I believe it should also be like that for coaches."
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