First Team

The new coaching team

Daniel Bauer, Julian Klamt and Tobias Holm in profile.

There will be three new faces in the VfL Wolfsburg dugout when the Wolves take on TSG 1899 Hoffenheim under the Volkswagen Arena lights on Friday evening. Daniel Bauer, Julian Klamt and Tobias Holm have been placed in charge of the VfL men’s first team until the end of the season, but who are the Green-and-Whites’ new coaches?

From hospital to the Bundesliga

When U19 coach Bauer was offered the role of interim head coach over the phone on Sunday, he happened to be at the hospital. “I’ve just become an uncle and was visiting the newborn baby,” Bauer, who has three kids of his own, told Wölfe TV.

Bauer has been with the Wolves since 2016, operating as U17 head coach and more recently as U19 boss. The switch from the youth department to the first team will not change the Andernach native’s approach, though. “We want to get our recent poor spell out of our heads,” he continued. “We want to look forward, rekindle the lads’ enthusiasm and remind them of their strengths.”

Bauer’s key stats

  • The former midfielder made 203 competitive appearances as a player, including 26 in Bundesliga 2 and three in the DFB Cup.

  • Bauer started out as U23 assistant coach before taking over the U17 team. He was made U19 head coach in 2022.

  • He has taken charge of 104 games as head coach, including eight U19 matches and 16 U17 games.

  • Made captain after stint abroad: Bauer spent the vast majority of his playing career in Germany, enjoying spells with 1. FC Union Berlin, among others. Before joining 1. FC Magdeburg, whom he would go on to captain, he spent around ten months in Finland with Rovaniemen Palloseura.

The ‘coachman’

Born in Wolfsburg, Klamt began his football career with SC Weyhausen before joining VfL in 2001. He spent over 20 years with the Wolves but retired from playing when the U23 side was dissolved. Known in VfL circles as ‘Kutschmann’ (‘coachman’), the former defender extended his long association with the club when he was made U14 coach in 2022. He went on to coach the U17s and the U19s, where he was assistant to Bauer until Sunday. Last year, Klamt played alongside title-winning legends JosuĂ© and Grafite for VfL Wolfsburg’s Infinity League team.

Klamt’s key stats

  • Klamt has spent almost his entire career at VfL. He made 327 appearances for the U23s as a player, winning the fourth-tier Regionalliga Nord on three occasions.

  • The centre-back registered 17 goals and ten assists for the Wolves’ reserve side.

  • Klamt was named in the matchday squad for the first team’s Europa League last-16 first leg against Rubin Kazan in 2010, but did not make an appearance.

  • Reserve team skipper: VfL’s new interim assistant coach was captain of the Green-and-Whites’ second team in 2017 under then head coach RĂŒdiger Ziehl and his assistant Bauer. The U23s won the Florida Cup that year.

First-team experience

Unlike Klamt, Holm’s VfL backstory is not a long one. After growing up in Rinteln, situated only 130 kilometres from Wolfsburg, Holm started out in the youth system of Hannover 96, where he would later work as an analyst and assistant coach. He gained valuable experience during his time as opposition and match analyst for the second-division side, operating under the likes of Mirko Slomka, Thomas Doll and Kenan Kocak.

Holm’s key stats

  • Holm made 198 appearances in the Regionalliga Nord and Regionalliga West (186 for TSV Havelse, 12 for Sportfreunde Lotte).

  • Holm was a no-nonsense opponent, picking up four red cards and 65 yellow cards in 255 competitive appearances as a player.

  • The 36-year-old has been Bauer’s assistant for three years, having started out with the U17s before moving up to the U19s.

  • Instant success: Twelve months later, Holm took over the U15 side and led them to the regional league title in his first year in charge. The same team are currently top of the U16 division.

Ein Gruppenbild der U19 des VfL Wolfsburg im Stadion.

Rekindling enthusiasm

There are only two rounds of fixtures left to play in the Bundesliga this season, but Bauer and his colleagues are in no mood to put their feet up just yet. “We don’t want to let the season peter out,” he said of his objectives for the final two games. “We want to finish the season with good results and intense, aggressive football to help prepare ourselves for the campaign ahead.” After all the excitement of Sunday, Bauer is now looking forward to Friday’s game against Hoffenheim. “We want to get the fans back on side with a win, deliver a top performance and bring a spark to the pitch.”