Salzburg, Austria – On Monday, FC Salzburg made the decision to part ways with coach Pepijn Lijnders amid disappointing performances in both the Austrian league and the Champions League, finding themselves 10 points behind the league leaders. This decision relieved Jürgen Klopp, who was previously Lijnders’ colleague at Liverpool, of the responsibility of assessing his future with the club.

Lijnders had joined Salzburg in May, signing a three-year contract, following his tenure as assistant to Klopp at Liverpool. His departure comes just two weeks before Klopp is set to take on a new role leading Red Bull’s expansive network of football clubs, which includes the Austrian team.

In a joint statement, CEO Stephan Reiter and sport managing director Rouven Schröder emphasized that the team had fallen short of its expectations and goals during many matches. They expressed their belief that a change in management was necessary to inject new energy into the squad, despite hopes for improvement persisting until the very end.

Currently, Salzburg sits in fifth place in the Austrian league, having played 16 matches and trailing behind the defending champions Sturm Graz. In the Champions League, the situation is even bleaker, with Salzburg managing to secure only one victory out of six games and languishing at 32nd out of 36 teams in the competition standings, five points away from qualification.

Next year, Salzburg is set to participate in the Club World Cup in the U.S. Despite winning 3-0 against Austria Klagenfurt in Lijnders’ final match, the team remains in a precarious position as they head into the winter break.

Reiter and Schröder are looking to appoint a new head coach by the time the team resumes training on January 3, with their first competitive match following the break scheduled for January 22 against Real Madrid in the Champions League.

Klopp is expected to begin his new position as the head of global soccer at Red Bull on January 1, where he will oversee their international clubs network, including Salzburg. It is worth noting that RB Leipzig, another club owned by Red Bull, is also facing struggles, having lost all six of their Champions League matches and being eliminated from the tournament prematurely.