Dirk Dufner has been appointed as Hannover 96's new sporting director, starting work immediately having put pen to paper on a three-year contract
Dirk Dufner has been appointed as Hannover 96's new sporting director, starting work immediately having put pen to paper on a three-year contract

Hannover appoint Dirk Dufner as Sporting Director

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Hanover - Dirk Dufner has been appointed as the new sporting director of Hannover 96, replacing Jörg Schmadtke, who left the club last Saturday.

Perfect match

Dufner, who had his contract with SC Freiburg terminated earlier this week, has signed a contract until 2016 with the Reds and will commence work immediately.

“Dirk Dufner has all of the qualities and attributes that we expect from a sporting director,” said Hannover president Martin Kind. “He has an expert competence, a strong personality and many years of experience in the Bundesliga, as well as in youth development. I am looking forward to working with him and am pleased that I have been able to convince him to come to Hannover so quickly.”

Dufner, who studied law, spent three years in a managerial role with VfB Stuttgart before working as sporting director at 1860 Munich between April 2000 and June 2004. He more recently fulfilled a similar role with Freiburg before his contract was terminated on Monday. “My talks with Martin Kind were based on trust and they were very constructive,” said the 45-year-old.

Spectator on Friday


Dufner will attend Hannover’s away game at Greuther Fürth on Friday night and will watch the game from the stands. “It is going to be a great challenge with Hannover 96 and I am looking forward to it," he added. ”I am going to put everything into this job, starting straight away.”

A press conference is due to take place at 11.30 CET on Thursday morning, where Dufner will be officially unveiled to the media.