VfL Wolfsburg made Valerien Ismael head coach, on Sunday following a spell as caretaker while conversely Bundesliga strugglers Ingolstadt sacked Markus Kauczinski after just four months in the hot-seat.

Saturday's 3-0 win over Freiburg was the result Wolfsburg needed to make Ismael's job permanent, despite two defeats in three games since Dieter Hecking was fired.

The French ex-Bayern Munich and Hanover 96 defender has a contract until June 2018.

"The thorough examination of all alternatives has shown that this is the best solution for us," said director of sport Klaus Allofs.

Ex-Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur coach Andre Villas-Boas, now at Shanghai SIPG, and ex-Hamburg boss Bruno Labbadia had been both linked to the job.

Wolfsburg's win, their first league victory since the opening day of the season, catapulted them from the relegation places to 13th, but they remain just two points from the bottom three, where Ingolstadt lurk in 17th.

The Bavarian club are winless in Germany's top flight this season and have just two points with eight defeats and two draws from ten league games.

Just four months after taking charge, Kauczinski was sacked less than 24 hours after their 2-0 defeat at home to Augsburg on Saturday left them just one place from bottom.

"We have analysed the work of the past four months with Markus and decided that the best thing for Ingolstadt is to make a new start," confirmed Harald Gaertner, the club's director of sport and communication.

Ingolstadt's bosses hope to have a new coach in place after training on Tuesday, but if there is no appointment, a caretaker coach will be named.

Kauczinski, who had previously spent 15 years at second-division Karlsruhe, was only appointed in July after predecessor Ralph Hasenhuettl left to coach RB Leipzig.