What last-minute changes on the coaching bench bring

So, it's Friedhelm Funkel again. Just as the long-time favorite among German football coaches regularly spends part of the winter at a Robinson Club on Fuerteventura, the football coach is just as reliably in demand in the spring.

No sooner had he chatted on the occasion of his 70th birthday in a link from the sunny island for Arnd Zeigler's "Wonderful World of Football" that he would listen to an interesting request at any time, than 1. FC Kaiserslautern, then in danger of relegation, came knocking.

Funkel, a bon vivant, not only saved the Palatinate club from relegation, but also played in the cup final against Bayer Leverkusen with the "Red Devils" on May 25 of last year. Afterward, he even declared his willingness to continue working. FCK had other plans.

Now, another traditional club from the 2. Bundesliga, 1. FC Köln, is turning its attention to the 71-year-old, who seems to be on the imaginary helper list of every one of his former clubs. The "Effzeh" welcomes a good friend from the region who understands the Rhineland spirit – and, in the best case scenario, will celebrate their long-awaited promotion to the Bundesliga in the cathedral city on May 18. The schedule dictates that 1. FC Köln will have a home game against 1. FC Kaiserslautern on Matchday 34.

It's inevitable that this coaching change, which took place on Monday (May 5, 2025), also has some folkloric overtones. Just to remind you: Funkel is already coming to the Geißbockheim for the third time. Once, he was relegated (2002) and immediately promoted again (2003), and the other time he saved the club from the relegation play-offs against Holstein Kiel (2021), having only taken over in mid-April in place of the hapless Markus Gisdol.

But what's the point of a coaching change so close to the end of the season when even the once again mousy Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg, with Ralph Hasenhüttl, has dismissed their coach two games before the end of the season? 1. FC Köln, unsurprisingly, has resorted to this panacea several times. With three games remaining in the 2010/2011 season, once again deep in the relegation swamp, sporting director Volker Finke took over for Frank Schaefer – and rescued the club with three wins.

Frank Schaefer was entrusted with the rescue mission of the 2011/2012 season with four games remaining. The venture failed in Lukas Podolski's final season, of all seasons, and the club plummeted to the bottom. Deep in the west, there's another cautionary tale: In 2009/2010, VfL Bochum also pulled the plug with two games remaining: Heiko Herrlich was fired, and VfL idol Darius Wosz took over. But after two defeats, Bochum were relegated and thus relegated to the second division for many, many years.

What failed in Bochum led to success in Leverkusen. In 2002/2003, the Werkself, plagued by title trauma, were only 16th in the table with two games to go. Bayer parted ways with Thomas Hörster and installed long-time Bayern player Klaus Augenthaler. A good move: With wins against 1860 Munich and 1. FC Nuremberg, the 2002 runners-up avoided relegation. That was a close call.

Later in Bundesliga history, only Arminia Bielefeld grasped at the famous straw. For the final matchday of the 2008/2009 season, Jörg Berger, who was once said to have saved the Titanic from sinking ten years earlier, was hired again at the Alm.

At that time, Berger had actually saved Eintracht Frankfurt from relegation in an epochal relegation drama with a 5:1 win against 1. FC Kaiserslautern - and joker Jan Age Fjörtoft made the remark that would stick to Berger like chewing gum.

But with the firefighter, who died in 2010 after battling cancer, Bielefeld only managed a 2-2 draw against Hannover 96. Arminia was relegated and had to wait a long time for a return to the Bundesliga. Currently, the East Westphalians can hardly wait for promotion to the second division and the cup final.

A quarter of a century ago, Borussia Dortmund (after a home defeat to SpVgg Unterhaching) was also in danger of relegation. At Borsigplatz, the bosses at the time came up with the idea of ​​signing Udo Lattek. The 64-year-old not only brought with him a funny cap, but also the hoped-for success: BVB stayed in the Bundesliga in 1999/2000.

Werder Bremen recorded the best long-term effect in 1999. More than a quarter of a century ago, Felix Magath had turned almost the entire city and the entire club against him when the amateur coach Thomas Schaaf, who had until then been working quietly, took over for the last four games before a catch-up game against FC Schalke 04.

A few weeks later, his practicality and expertise not only secured the Green-Whites' league survival and cup victory, but also the most successful era in the club's history. Later in Hannover, it became clear that Schaaf was not a man for short-term success.

Record champions FC Bayern Munich also tried to turn things around with late coaching changes. However, in Munich, the goal was never to avoid relegation, but rather to pursue bigger goals. When the 1995/1996 experiment with Otto Rehhagel failed miserably, Franz Beckenbauer was supposed to lead Bayern to the championship. But the "Kaiser" only managed four points from four games.

And when, in 2009, the Champions League spot was in jeopardy following Jürgen Klinsmann's dismissal, Jupp Heynckes took over. Bayern would still finish runners-up. Two years later, incidentally, Andries Jonker, after parting ways with Louis van Gaal, also had to secure their place in the Champions League in the final spurt. This mission, too, was successful. The example of Bayern proves that a late coaching change is by no means a guarantee of success.