Fabian Hürzeler is making a name for himself as a top manager in the English Premier League, staying unbeaten in his first four league matches at Brighton. Meanwhile, his former team, St. Pauli, is struggling.
The 31-year-old coach from Texas helped St. Pauli get promoted back to the Bundesliga last season for the first time since 2011, but he left a month later to join Brighton.
St. Pauli has yet to earn any points after three games into the Bundesliga season. Under new coach Alexander Blessin, St. Pauli’s 3-1 defeat at Augsburg on Sunday left them in the relegation zone. However, they no longer hold the unwanted record of being the only team yet to score a goal in the league.
Marius Wolf scored Augsburg’s opening goal just after halftime with his first Bundesliga goal since August 2022. Phillip Tietz added a second with a header. Although Carlo Boukhalfa’s header brought St. Pauli back into the game, Yusuf Kabadayi scored in added time to secure the win for Augsburg.
The only team below St. Pauli in the standings is the other promoted team, Holstein Kiel, which has lost all three of its games and has a goal difference of minus 8 after a 6-1 defeat to Bayern Munich on Saturday.
Augsburg’s victory was their first of the season and came just three days after coach Jess Thorup received a contract extension through 2026.
On Sunday, Werder Bremen managed a 2-1 win at Mainz despite playing the last 30 minutes with just 10 players. Marvin Ducksch scored an early penalty for Bremen, but Lee Jae-sung equalized for Mainz after Bremen goalkeeper Michael Zetterer misjudged a play.
Bremen’s Marco Friedl was sent off in the 60th minute for a foul on Mainz’s Jonathan Burkardt, but Derrick Köhn scored on his Bundesliga debut to give Bremen the win.
