SALZBURG, Austria (AP) — Salzburg fired coach Pepijn Lijnders on Monday, with the club 10 points off the lead in the Austrian league and unlikely to advance in the Champions League. That saved Jürgen Klopp having to decide his former colleague's future.
Lijnders was hired by Salzburg, Austria's biggest club, on a three-year contract in May after leaving Liverpool, where he was the longtime assistant to Klopp.
He was fired two weeks before Klopp begins work leading drinks giant Red Bull's troubled network of soccer clubs, which includes Salzburg.
“It was clear to see that in many of our matches, we have been far short of our own requirements and aims,” Salzburg CEO Stephan Reiter and managing director of sport Rouven Schröder said in a joint statement.
“We have therefore become convinced that our team needs a new impulse under new management, even if we continued to hope for a turnaround until the end.”
Salzburg is fifth in the Austrian league after 16 games, 10 points behind leader Sturm Graz — the defending champion who ended Salzburg's run of 10 straight titles.
In the Champions League, Salzburg has won one of its six league matches and is 32nd in the 36-team standings, five points from the qualification spots.
Salzburg will be one of 12 teams playing in the Club World Cup in the United States next year.
Lijnders won his last game in charge on Saturday 3-0 against Austria Klagenfurt but the team was still mired in trouble ahead of Austria's winter break.
Reiter and Schröder said they want a new coach in place by the time Salzburg starts training on Jan. 3 after the winter break. Salzburg's next competitive game isn't until Jan. 22 at Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Klopp will begin his new role as head of global soccer at Red Bull on Jan. 1, overseeing its international network of clubs including Salzburg.
The Austrian team isn't the only one of Red Bull's clubs in trouble. Leipzig has lost all six of its games in the Champions League and is already eliminated from contention for the knockout stages.
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
The Associated Press
