Near drop zone, Hannover turn to Frontzeck

Hours after announcing that head coach Tayfun Korkut had to go, Hannover 96 named their chosen helmsman for the final spurt of the Bundesliga season. A run of 13 matches without a win has plunged Hannover to the brink of the relegation zone - despite having sat eighth in the table, seemingly in the hunt for European competition, at the half-way stage of the campaign.

Michael Frontzeck, a former German international, will take the reins "until the end of the current season," H96 announced on the club website on Monday.

"As new head coach, Michael Frontzeck has our complete confidence to lead the team to survival," club president Martin Kind was quoted as saying. "In the remaining matches, the only goal is for Hannover 96 to stay in the Bundesliga. Michael Frontzeck can immediately jump in and prepare the team - starting Tuesday morning - for the important home game against Hoffenheim on Saturday."

Frontzeck's first training session with the struggling side, at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, will even precede his official presentation as new head coach in a press conference in Lower Saxony later in the day. The 51-year-old is no stranger to the club, having served as assistant coach in the 2004/5 season.

Tayfun Korkut was sacked on Monday morning following a run of 13 matches without a win, including a 4-0 thrashing in Leverkusen this past weekend. He had spent just over a calendar year in the job since replacing Mirko Slomka over the 2013/14 winter break.

Frontzeck has served as head coach at four German clubs to date, albeit never for two full seasons at any side. He started out with Alemmania Aachen and Arminia Bielefeld in the second division. A Borussia Mönchengladbach stalwart and defender in his playing days, Frontzeck was then given the chance to coach the Foals from 2009. By February of 2011, however, with Gladbach struggling in the drop zone, Frontzeck was sacked and replaced by Swiss tactician Lucien Favre. Favre will soon become the Bundesliga's longest-serving coach once Jürgen Klopp steps aside at the other Borussia, Dortmund.

Frontzeck's most recent post was with second division side St Pauli, but he was relieved of his duties in November of 2013, after barely a year in the job.

With 29 points from 29 league games, Hannover 96 are currently 15th in the table, perilously close to the relegation zone. Even bottom-of-the-table Hamburg sit just four points adrift of H96 with five league matches left in the season. The club's season run-in, however is relatively favorable, with games against Hoffenheim, Wolfsburg, Werder Bremen, Augsburg and Freiburg still to play.