Relegation-threatened Nuremberg announced on Wednesday the stepdown of the 51-year-old Dutch coach Gertjan Verbeek who had taken the rein last October.

Nuremberg stood second bottom of Bundesliga with 26 points after Sunday's 4-1 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, then Hanover 96 and Schalke 04.

"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.

U-23 coach Roger Prinzen will be Nuremberg's interim coach.

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