Struggling German giants Hamburg appointed Bruno Labbadia as their fourth manager of the season on Wednesday in a last ditch bid to avoid relegation.

The 49-year-old replaces Peter Knaebel, appointed on a caretaker basis after last month's sacking of Joe Zinnbauer, who in turn replaced Mirko Slomka last September.

Knaebel was fired after only two games in charge, both resulting in defeats with no goals scored.

Saturday's 2-0 loss to Wolfsburg left Hamburg propping up the table with 25 points, four away from the safety zone with six games remaining.

"We've decided on this change because we feel the question of manager is the most important," Hamburg boss Dietmar Beiersdorf said.

"With Bruno Labbadia we've got a very good coach who is also very experienced in a relegation fight."

"There's no time to lose," ventured Labbadia, a former top striker with various sides including Hamburg and Bayern Munich, after overseeing his first training session.

Ahead of the derby game at Werder Bremen on Sunday he promised: "We'll be ready for the derby at Bremen and also concentrated on the games to come."

He called for "total commitment and passion from everyone at the club in the coming weeks" in order to "quickly get back on the path to success".

Hamburg are the only club never to have left the top flight.

They only avoided losing that proud record and dropping to the second division last season by a single away goal having drawn both legs of a play-off against second division Greuther Fuerth.

The crisis-ridden club have taken only one point and failed to score in their last five matches.

The man the club management have turned to had a nine month spell as Hamburg boss in 2009-2010.

Former Germany international Labbadia was then hired by fellow Bundesliga side Stuttgart, managing to save them from relegation in 2010-2011.

He guided Stuttgart to Europa League qualification in the next two seasons, before being dismissed after losing the opening three games in the 2013-2014 season.