Labbadia and VfL will part ways in the summer after the 53-year-old informed the club he would not be extending his current contract, which expires on 30 June 2019. Labbadia told the Wolfsburg management board and the team of his decision on Tuesday afternoon. His assistant coaches Eddy Sözer and Olaf Janßen, as well as rehabilitation coach Günter Kern, will also be leaving.

Bruno Labbadia: "I'd like to thank the club, but especially the team, for the fantastic and intensive past few months. I've thought a lot about the future in recent weeks and have now come to the decision to leave VfL Wolfsburg in the summer. It would only be productive and sensible to continue working together if there was a systematic, professional discussion involving the sporting management over the course of the entire season. I have come to this decision as our ideas do not align with each other 100 per cent. The coaching staff wanted to let the players know of the decision personally and we chose to do that before the international break. Now we're focusing on putting our all into the final games of the season to finish the campaign successfully."

Managing Director Jörg Schmadtke: "The timing of Bruno Labbadia's decision surprised us because we wanted to have the planned open-ended discussion we had agreed on. It's a shame that is no longer the case, but we respect his decision."