Eintracht Frankfurt: separation of sports director Markus Krösche after years of success

Football Manager Krösche: “An extraordinary, intense and unforgettable time”

The more than five-year era of Sport Board Member Markus Krösche at Eintracht Frankfurt has ended. The 46-year-old will be released at his own request with immediate effect, informed the football Bundesliga team. His contract, which runs until the summer of 2028, continues to be adapted, it said. The Supervisory Board of Eintracht took this decision at an extraordinary meeting.

The duties of Krösche are provisionally taken over by Axel Hellmann, who also rises from CEO to CEO. The long-term occupation of the sports department will be decided in the next few weeks, the club said.

In recent months, there had been rumors of a departure of Krösches. With regard to the demands of the club, it needed the full conviction of all those responsible, it said now. “Against this backdrop, we respected his request for an immediate release and complied with him on the Supervisory Board,” said Eintracht President Mathias Beck.

Krösche’s term of office also saw the Europa League triumph in May 2022. “The past years at Eintracht Frankfurt were an extraordinary, intense and unforgettable time for me,” said Krösche. “After more than five very successful but also very demanding years at this great club, I have for some time developed the feeling that I need a change – and that Eintracht could possibly help a new impulse,” he added.

After a messed up Bundesliga season and the change of coach from Albert Riera to Adi Hütter, Eintracht will now also make a new start in the sporting management. In June, Krösche had been associated with AC Milan – the change did not come about at that time. Now the 46-year-old goes without switching directly to a new club.

Frankfurt in May 2022: High point of development

Krösche (formerly SC Paderborn and RB Leipzig) has been sports director at the 2022 Europa League winner since mid-2021. During his tenure in Frankfurt, he repeatedly made good transfer decisions and became one of the top managers in German professional football. He sold Omar Marmoush to Manchester City for 75 million euros, Hugo Ekitiké to Liverpool FC for almost 100 million euros and Randal Kolo Muani to Paris Saint-Germain for more than 90 million euros. The attacker trio had changed for a fraction of the money to the traditional club from Hesse.

The sports director was recently but more in the criticism, especially the commitment of coach Riera was considered a big mistake. He was also accused of the squad’s weak price-performance ratio last season. The tough transfer summer caused as much unrest as a property purchase in Croatia.