Nuremberg coach Verbeek steps down

Berlin, April 23 (IANS) Relegation-threatened Nuremberg announced Wednesday that the club's 51-year-old Dutch coach Gertjan Verbeek will step down with immediate effect after remaining in charge for barely six months.

Nuremberg are second last in Bundesliga with 26 points after Sunday's 1-4 home loss to Bayer Leverkusen. With only three matches to go, Nuremberg are one point away from Hamburg and five points adrift of VfB Stuttgart. Their last three rivals are Mainz 05, Hanover 96 and Schalke 04, reports Xinhua.

"After a run of defeats for the club, we have decided to take the necessary steps to get back to winning ways while we still have three matches to play," general manager Martin Bader said.

Under-23 coach Roger Prinzen will be the interim coach.

"Roger knows the team well and has already proven he can help out in a very difficult situation," said Bader.