Borussia Moenchengladbach sack coach Eugen Polanski after three straight Bundesliga defeats

Dismissal after three league defeats

Borussia Moenchengladbach fired head coach Eugen Polanski on Sunday following three consecutive defeats to open the Bundesliga season. The club confirmed the departure of the 40-year-old manager and his assistant coach Tobias Trulsen one day after a 5-0 away defeat against SC Freiburg. The loss left the team in 18th place in the Bundesliga standings without a point. Sporting director Rouven Schroeder announced the decision in an official statement on Sunday morning.

“Despite a good pre-season and some encouraging signs, the team haven't been able to get the results we were looking for in the Bundesliga. Our recent performances ultimately led us to the conclusion that a change was needed, and we have therefore relieved Eugen of his duties with immediate effect.”

Defensive collapse across opening fixtures

The dismissal followed a sequence of heavy defensive setbacks across the start of the domestic campaign. Gladbach opened their league schedule with a 3-0 away defeat against RB Leipzig before falling 4-3 at home to newly promoted SV Elversberg, a match in which the squad conceded three second-half goals. The club's only competitive victory of the season was a 5-0 win over fifth-tier side Schott Mainz in the first round of the German Cup. In total, Gladbach conceded 12 goals in three Bundesliga matches.

Matchday 1 (at RB Leipzig)3

Matchday 2 (vs SV Elversberg)4

Matchday 3 (at SC Freiburg)5

Matchday 1 (at RB Leipzig)

3 goals

Matchday 2 (vs SV Elversberg)

4 goals

Matchday 3 (at SC Freiburg)

5 goals

Data from the article text

Polanski, who previously managed the club's Under-23 team and represented Gladbach as a player, reflected on the decision following the club's announcement.

“Borussia Moenchengladbach was and remains my club. That is why it hurts so much that things have turned out this way. After successfully securing our top-flight status, we made a number of changes for this season. We had big ambitions but failed to put them into practice.”

Parallels to the previous season

The timing of the decision mirrored events from the 2025–2026 campaign, when Gladbach also dismissed their manager after three matchdays. In September 2025, former sporting director Roland Virkus fired Gerardo Seoane after the team earned one point from their opening three games, before Virkus himself stepped down shortly afterward. Polanski took charge on an interim basis following Seoane's exit, earned a permanent contract in November 2025, and guided the team to a 12th-place finish. Despite avoiding relegation, Polanski entered the 2026 campaign under scrutiny from sections of the club's supervisory board.

Interim appointment and upcoming fixtures

Following Polanski's departure, 46-year-old assistant coach Jan-Moritz Lichte took charge of first-team duties on an interim basis. Lichte, who previously managed Mainz 05, joined Gladbach during the summer from the youth academy of Manchester City, where he worked on player development. Assistant coach Markus Gellhaus and the existing backroom staff will support Lichte during the transition period. Lichte is scheduled to lead the squad in their next Bundesliga fixture against FSV Mainz 05 on Saturday.