Borussia Mönchengladbach Sack Eugen Polanski

Borussia Mönchengladbach have sacked head coach Eugen Polanski after three defeats to open the Bundesliga season, the club confirmed on Sunday. Assistant Tobias Trulsen was also relieved of his duties.

Saturday's 5-0 defeat at SC Freiburg proved the final act of a tenure that had lasted almost exactly a year. Gladbach sit bottom of the table without a point after Matchday 3, having also lost 3-0 at RB Leipzig on the opening weekend and thrown away a three-goal lead at home to newly-promoted Elversberg, beaten 4-3. Their only win of the campaign came in the DFB-Pokal, a 5-0 rout of fifth-tier Schott Mainz.

Sporting director Rouven Schröder said the decision followed a summer of heavy investment that had not been reflected on the pitch.

"Despite a good pre-season and positive signs, the team did not achieve the desired results in the Bundesliga," said Rouven Schröder. "Recent performances led to the decision to relieve Eugen of his duties with immediate effect. He is a true 'Borusse' through and through."

Polanski, speaking after his dismissal, pointed to the ambitions the club had set for the campaign.

"It hurts a lot that things have ended this way," said Eugen Polanski. "After successfully securing our place in the top flight last season, we made several changes for this one. We had great ambitions, but we failed to realise them."

Schröder had rebuilt the squad and staff around the 40-year-old rather than making another coaching change at the end of last season: eleven new players arrived, and Polanski's own staff was reshaped as the club reverted to a back four. Sunday's move is Gladbach's second early-season coaching change in as many years. Polanski had taken over last term in almost identical circumstances, replacing Gerardo Seoane after just one point from three matches, and led the side to a 12th-place finish once his interim role was made permanent in November.

Assistant Jan-Moritz Lichte, who has previous experience as head coach at Mainz — a club Schröder also worked for — has been placed in interim charge. Gladbach's next fixture is at home to Mainz on 19 September.

Polanski is the first coach to lose his job in the 2026-27 Bundesliga season, and the manner of the change, another mid-table side abandoning a coach after three matchdays, may put fresh pressure on other clubs who back their managers through a difficult start.