Wednesday, 11 August 2021 at 13:11• Chris Meijer • Last update: 14:00

Peter Hyballa is no longer Esbjerg fB’s trainer, among others Extra Bladet and BN DeStem. The German trainer had an extremely turbulent start at the Danish club, where the players asked for his dismissal. Esbjerg presented Rafael van der Vaart on Tuesday as assistant coach and club ambassador, to support Hyballa. A day later, however, the coach threw in the towel. Roland Vrabec – former trainer of, among others, FSV Frankfurt, FC Vaduz and Progrès Niederkorn – has been appointed as his successor.

Two weeks ago, 21 players from the club published a joint open letter in Esktra Bladet, in which they expressed their “strong distrust” of Hyballa and his coaching staff. For example, the letter wrote that a player is repeatedly subjected to body shaming. “You have bigger tits than your wife”, Hyballa is said to have bitten him, while also holding the player’s body to emphasize his discontent; at another time he would have sucked at a player’s chest.

Owner Paul Conway, however, has maintained confidence in his trainer and is inviting players to leave if they cannot get along with the trainer. In the end it was decided to bring in Van der Vaart as an assistant. “They asked me to create a little peace and fun there again and to help Peter,” Van der Vaart said last week. Ziggo Sports know. “I think Peter is a great trainer. Because of his way of thinking, how enthusiastic he is. His way of communicating is just that. 21 players have signed, including players who have just been made captain and are being drafted. That’s a bit Danish, following the crowd.”

Van der Vaart was presented on Tuesday as assistant coach and club ambassador at Esbjerg, which has also started the season at the second level of Denmark with one point from three games. A day later, however, Hyballa decided to resign with immediate effect. Extra Bladet writes that assistant Maik Drzensla and physical trainer Robin Adriaennsen leave in his wake. In recent weeks, Hyballa has tried to throw in the towel several times, but the American owners of Esbjerg did not accept his resignation. Now Hyballa is still leaving and the question is what consequences that will have for Van der Vaart.