Wolfsburg parts ways with sporting director Allofs

Berlin - Sporting director Klaus Allofs has left VfL Wolfsburg with the club just above the Bundesliga relegation places, weeks after Dieter Hecking was fired as coach.

A 5-0 drubbing at Bayern Munich on Saturday - Wolfsburg's heaviest defeat in the Bundesliga - was the final straw.

"Personally, it's a sad day for me," ex-West Germany striker Allofs, 60, who had been in the post four years, told the club's website on Monday.

"After intensive talks in the last few weeks we have come to this decision.

"Unfortunately under my leadership VfL couldn't take the next step and establish themselves in the top group of the Bundesliga and in international football."

With Allofs and Hecking in charge Wolfsburg finished second only to Bayern in the 2014-15 season and came eighth last term.

And in April, Wolfsburg beat Real Madrid 2-0 at home in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, the farthest the club has ever got, before bowing out with a 3-0 defeat in the return at the Bernabeu.

However, the 2015 German Cup winners is now in danger of slipping into the bottom three and are only out of the relegation places on goal difference.

Coach Valerien Ismael has taken just four points in his seven games since Hecking was fired in October and there is unrest behind the scenes with want-away Germany forward Julian Draxler out of the squad for the match in Munich.

The 23-year-old cost Wolfsburg €35 million from Schalke in Aug. 2015, but has repeatedly said he wants to leave the north German club.