Stefan Kuntz: “A decision that everyone was on board with”

Merlin Polzin will remain Hamburger SV head coach following the winter break. The club announced the decision on Sunday afternoon (22nd December). HSV’s board member for sport Stefan Kuntz discussed this decision and talked in detail about…

…the decision: We have decided to continue with Merlin Polzin, Loic Fave, Richard Krohn and Jan Hasenkamp until the end of the season. This morning, we discussed what’s happened over the last four weeks, what we expect from the rest of the campaign and how we want to approach it. It was a really easy decision in the end and everyone at the club was on board with it. To be honest, we had basically made the decision last week, even before the Fürth game. The result yesterday didn’t play much of a role, though I of course wanted to win our final match of the year. We took the time we needed, together with my colleague on the board Eric Huwer, Claus Costa, the supervisory board and the shareholders. It’s nice to say that everybody was on board and convinced that this is the right decision.

…his thoughts on the last few weeks: Merlin and his team have shown over the past four weeks that they want to try and cover all bases, whether it’s with analysis after games, tactics before the game or team-talks at half time – they’re always prepared to openly discuss things that haven’t gone well and aren’t afraid of mentioning specific names. They address things objectively and focus on performances and results. On top of that, training has been positive, as well as the identification of things that can be improved on, plus improved statistics. The final factor has also been our results, with two wins and two draws, which also played a role. However, the work being done and the plan of how to proceed was much more important to us.

…the first half of the season: My time here at HSV has been fast-paced, interesting and full of lessons. I’m still in awe at how big this club is. At the same time, I’m still fixated on everyone at the club – the coaches, the players and staff – making sure that the Rothosen have sporting success. We’ve had some ups and downs in the first half of the season. Pre-season was good and then we made a solid start to the campaign. We thought after the Düsseldorf and Magdeburg games that we were where we needed to be. The lowest point so far of the season then came with the change of coach. I’d like to take this opportunity to once again thank Steffen Baumgart for the work he did up until that point. Since then, it’s been a really intense period with Merlin and his team in charge.

…what’s in store in 2025: We will continue to build on the foundations that were partly laid over the past four weeks and which we discussed again today. We want to work on the tactical side of our game, as well as individual elements and the fitness levels. We want to send a message to the rest of the league with our first three games of 2025 against Köln, Hertha and Hannover and show everyone that we are to be reckoned with.