Struggling Hamburg sack CEO and sporting director

   BERLIN, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Hamburg have sacked CEO Heribert Bruchhagen and sporting director Jens Todt, the Bundesliga club announced in an official statement on Thursday.

   Amid Hamburg's relegation battle, the Bundesliga side realign their management to avoid the first-ever relegation into second division.

   As a result, the supervisory committee suspended Bruchhagen and Todt under the new Hamburg president Bernd Hoffmann, who had been elected last month.

   The "HSV" is the only Bundesliga club that never relegated in the club's history. However, the club has been involved in the relegation battle for most of the past seasons.

   "After a thorough analysis of the overall situation we decided to take this step and are now devoting ourselves for a realignment. Heribert Bruchhagen has always put himself protectively on front of our club. He was very keen that Hamburg overcomes the current sporting downward trend," Hamburg's president Hoffmann said.

   The "Rothosen" are deeply involved in the relegation battle as they sit on the 17th place, seven points adrift from safety, and one point ahead of last placed Cologne.

   Hamburg's new president Bernd Hoffmann has appointed Frank Wettstein, who "enjoys full confidence", as the club's new CEO. Wettstein's first official act was to sack sporting director Jens Todt as the club wants to "reposition for the future".

   To make things worse for relegation threatened Hamburg, they encounter runaway leaders and Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich in the 26th round of Bundesliga on Saturday.  Enditem