Born in Bochum, Hannes Wolf only played in the Oberliga during his playing career but he has already made a name for himself as a coach at a young age. While studying sport at the Ruhr University in Bochum, he worked as a coach at SG Eintracht Ergste. After moving on to ASC Dortmund he was then signed up by Borussia Dortmund.
At BVB, Wolf – at the age of just 28 – first became the assistant coach with the second team where he worked with players including Sven Bender and a year later he was head coach of the Dortmund U19 side. After that, Wolf also played a leading role with the second team as well as the U17s, winning the German U17 Championship in 2014 and 2015. A year later, he secured the national title with the U19s as well.
Second division VfB Stuttgart heard about Hannes Wolf and signed him up. After arriving in September 2016, the new coach led the Swabian side to the second division title and an immediate return to the top division. Wolf was at VfB for one and a half years. After a couple of months out, he was snapped up by Hamburg SV. The man from Bochum worked in the Hanseatic city for a year as he did with his following employers, the Belgian top-flight club KRC Genk where he took part in the Champions League.
Since October 2020, Wolf has been working for the German Football Association (DFB) as the Germany U18 coach. Bayer 04 appointed the 39-year-old coach as successor to the Dutchman Peter Bosz on 23 March 2021.
It took exactly 60 minutes for the Werkself to take the lead through a perfectly finished counter-attack by Patrik Schick in the first leg of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League play-off at Olympiacos. Referring to the meeting in the league phase and the initially squandered opportunities, coach Kasper Hjulmand said afterwards: "I thought: 'Oh no, déjà-vu.'" But after the opening goal, it took just 144 seconds for the Czech to spark more wild celebrations among those in black and red in the Greek cauldron, when Schick nodded in Alejandro Grimaldo's corner. Much to the delight of the Bayer 04 fans, his teammates and his coach, who had warm words for the striker in the aftermath. The Werkself Review.
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Werkself TV shows highlights of the 2-0 win at Olympiacos in the first leg of the play-offs of the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 league...
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The Werkself beat Olympiacos 2-0 in the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League play-off first leg to claim a crucial victory in the Greek capital. After a focused first-half display with a number of presentable chances, Patrik Schick crowned a textbook counter to hand the Werkself the lead on the hour (60’). The Czech rounded off his brace when he headed in from a corner just 144 seconds later. Bayer 04 maintained their lead with aplomb to achieve a good position for the return leg in Leverkusen.
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Bayer 04 and Olympiacos had only met twice before the current UEFA Champions campaign. After the encounter on Matchday 7 of this season’s league phase, the Werkself travel to face the Greek side for the second time in just four weeks for the knockout play-off first leg. The Black and Reds were dominant for large spells in mid-January but lost 2-0 after missing a number of presentable chances. The Werkself aim to do better on Wednesday night to “seize the chance for revenge,” as managing director sport Simon Rolfes put it. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the game in our matchday news.
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