Struggling Hamburg sack coach

Berlin: After a fourth straight Bundesliga defeat Hamburg reluctantly fired their popular coach Markus Gisdol on Sunday with the club second from bottom of the league.

"Parting ways with a coach prematurely is never something we would wish to do but we feel a fresh start might help us to stay up, which our aim," club chief Heribert Bruchhagen told AFP's German subsidiary SID.

Hamburg have lost 12 games, the latest 2-0 at home to rock-bottom Cologne on Saturday.