Will Jens Rasiejewski and TSG Hoffenheim reach an out-of-court settlement after all? Exciting: There is also a bit of internal intrigue behind the process
At the beginning of the year, an open conflict was brewing behind the scenes, of which little was made public. On the one hand, there was Alexander Rosen, who was promoted to managing director last summer, and his confidant Bastian Huber, the technical director. On the other side were the two other managing directors, Prof. Dr. Jan Mayer and Denni Strich. A rift was barely averted, but according to reports, the situation is still simmering in the background with an open outcome
Rasiejewski out of favor with Hopp?
In any case, Rasiejewski was released in December after months of whispering within the club. The former short-term head coach of VfL Bochum, who was brought in as head of the academy in June 2021, was considered a confidant of Rosen. However, rumors that he had fallen out of favor with club patron Dietmar Hopp had persisted since the summer of 2023 at the latest. However, no one seemed to want to take the leave of absence before it was finally announced in December 2023.
The dispute surrounding the 49-year-old is just one aspect of the overall and apparently quite fragile structure at the highest TSG level. The fact that former head of youth development Dirk Mack, no longer an employee of the club but of a company through which Hopp’s foreign activities at Academico de Viseu in Portugal and Barra Futebol Clube in Brazil are handled, had a major say in the appointment of Frank Kramer can be seen as an affront to sporting director Rosen.
Out-of-court settlement in sight
Rasiejewski, whose contract runs until summer 2024, is taking legal action against the release at the Mannheim labor court (ArbG) and is also suing for his contract to be terminated. In other words, a working document without a fixed end date. One argument in his favor could be that he was already employed as a coach at TSG between 2011 and 2015. However, TSG and Rasiejewski now appear to want to reach an out-of-court settlement. According to the ArbG, the conciliation hearing scheduled for March 14 was canceled “as the parties agreed at short notice that they were in out-of-court negotiations”. So far, however, nothing has been announced about a separation, which suggests that the negotiations are still ongoing.
