Hamburg's 1-1 draw with Energie Cottbus, which left the team at the bottom of the Bundesliga, was the straw that broke the camel's back.

"We regret having to make this decision," Hamburg chairman Bernd Hoffmann said in a statement.

"We were convinced that we could turn this around with Thomas Doll. But after the results of the last two matches and the impression we got, we had to react."

German paper Bild said that Hamburg are lining up a move for Felix Magath, who was sacked by Bayern Munich on Wednesday.

Magath had a spell with Hamburg in the mid 1990s.