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Andre Fuhr
Photo: Patrick Nuhn / Lobeca / IMAGO
The German handball runner-up Borussia Dortmund has released head coach André Fuhr with immediate effect.
The women's Bundesliga team announced this on Monday.
The 51-year-old had previously been sharply criticized by players.
This was preceded by the terminations without notice of the two internationals Mia Zschocke and Amelie Berger at Borussia Dortmund.
Shortly thereafter, they contacted the new contact point for those affected by psychological, physical and sexualized violence and abuse in top-class sport.
The 24-year-old backcourt player Zschocke and the 23-year-old winger Berger, who had been officially on sick leave for several weeks, still had contracts running until 2023.
BVB initially refused to accept the terminations, but has since complied.
Focusing on sport "nearly impossible"
The exact background to the allegations is still unclear.
At the beginning of last week there was already a crisis meeting in this regard, further talks are to follow.
The parties involved are silent about the reasons for the terminations.
Representatives of the contact point for violence and abuse in top-class sport also took part in the meeting last Monday.
The entire process "made it almost impossible for the squad and the entire department to focus on handball," the BVB statement said.
"The decision to release André Fuhr is expressly not associated with prejudice," added the club.
The events are "currently being conscientiously and thoroughly" processed, while the club is "in dialogue with the contact point against violence in sport, which had been contacted by several players," it said.
It is not yet clear who will train Dortmund in the future.
Fuhr had already been represented by assistant coach Andreas Kuno in BVB's most recent Bundesliga game at Sport-Union Neckarsulm (38:25) on Saturday.
see/dpa/sid