Erik ten Hag had hoped to get his coaching career back on track with Bayer Leverkusen.
The Dutch manager lasted two seasons at Manchester United, winning two domestic cups and reaching three finals in total, but the decline in the team’s performances after his first campaign eventually led to him losing his job.
Leverkusen offered a promising route back to the top. Ten Hag has experience in Germany from coaching Bayern Munich’s second team between 2013 and 2015, and while replacing Xabi Alonso always looked like a difficult job, he was joining a well-run club with a strong squad. Or, so he thought.
After only two league games in charge, Ten Hag has now been dismissed, the club captain has publicly accused his teammates of selfishness, and the squad’s best players have been cherry-picked by other sides in the transfer window.
What exactly has happened at the BayArena?
MORE: Why Man United gave Ten Hag a new contract — and then fired him weeks later
Why did Bayer Leverkusen sack Erik ten Hag?
Leverkusen sacked Ten Hag on September 1 after apparently being unconvinced he was the right man for the job.
“This decision was not an easy one for us,” sporting director Simon Rolfes said. “Nobody wanted to take this step. However, the past few weeks have shown that building a new and successful team with this setup is not feasible. We firmly believe in the quality of our team and will now do everything we can to take the next steps in our development with a new setup.”
Chaiman Fernando Carro said the decision was “painful, but we believe it was necessary”.
According to Kicker, the club first harboured doubts in the manager’s very first game in charge against lower-tier SG Sonnenhof Grossaspach, even though Leverkusen won 4-0. The opening league loss to Hoffenheim only added to the uncertainty. Then, prior to the 3-3 draw with Werder Bremen, Rolfes refused to offer backing to Ten Hag when speaking to Sky. The fact they then let a 3-1 lead slip against 10 men, during which Leverkusen players argued about who would take a penalty, was never exactly going to work in Ten Hag’s favour.
“We have to do a lot of things better, and we’ve already shown that we can do a lot better,” Ten Hag told reporters the day before the game, citing performances in preseason wins as proof. He also insisted “I’m not Harry Potter” when asked about the pressure to improve things. He said something very similar when the tide began to turn at Man United.
Was Erik ten Hag entirely to blame at Bayer Leverkusen?
The Leverkusen board clearly developed doubts about Ten Hag, and quickly, but there is no denying he had a difficult task.
Alonso left to take over at Real Madrid after one of the most impressive stints in Leverkusen’s modern history. In 2023/24, they won the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal double without losing a game; indeed, their only loss all season came against Atalanta in the UEFA Europa League final. Although Bayern won the title back in 2024/25, Leverkusen still finished second in the table and reached the Champions League knockouts, where Bayern eliminated them in the Round of 16.
Then came a summer of upheaval. Leverkusen sold Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong to Liverpool, Amine Adli to Bournemouth, and the experienced Granit Xhaka to Sunderland. More than 15 new faces were brought in, including USMNT star Malik Tillman, Liverpool defender Jarell Quansah, Manchester City youngster Claudio Echeverri (on loan) and young Monaco winger Eliesse Ben Seghir. Such a huge turnover in players, and getting the new ones bedded in, was always going to require patience — doubly so under a new head coach. As it turns out, patience was in short supply.
Captain Robert Andrich said after the Werder Bremen draw that “Everyone played for themselves, everyone ran around the pitch on their own”. He added: “We have too many players who are concerned with other things or only with themselves. I don’t know if I’ve ever experienced that at Bayer.
“The disastrous final phase [of the game] was a symbol of our current situation. This has nothing to do with any unrest, player transfers, or legal proceedings.”
He said of the penalty incident: “That was also a signal to the opponent. They see: ‘They’re leading 2-1, could make it 3-1, and are discussing a penalty’. These are the little things that boost the opposition. We can’t stand around for two minutes and play ‘rock, paper, scissors’ to see who’s going to take the penalty. That’s one of many things that aren’t going well for us at the moment.”
How long was Erik ten Hag at Bayer Leverkusen?
Ten Hag signed a two-year contract with Leverkusen on May 26, 2025, and he officially started the job on July 1.
He was sacked on September 1, meaning his time in charge lasted exactly two months.
Ten Hag managed Leverkusen for three official games: two in the Bundesliga, and one in the DFB-Pokal. They beat lower-league SG Sonnenhof Grossaspach 4-0 in the cup game, then lost 2-1 at home to Hoffenheim in the league. On August 30, they let a 3-1 lead against 10-man Werder Bremen slip, with the match ending 3-3.
How old is Erik ten Hag?
Ten Hag was born on February 2, 1970, in Haaksbergen, the Netherlands. He is 55 years old as of 2025.
