By Alex RobertsAs recently as 2022, Wolfsburg, a club that has had the likes of Kevin de Bruyne, Edin Džeko, and Micky van de Ven light up the Volkswagen Arena, were in the Champions League. Now, they’re in 17th, and have only just earned their first win since mid-January. 2-1 against Union Berlin.Admittedly, that’s an oversimplification. Wolfsburg aren’t fighting against relegation from the Bundesliga for the first time in their history just because, according to Google Gemini, they became “a pioneer in the integration of generative AI within professional football.”Wolfsburg have been using AI in some kind of capacity since 2023, but this season they went all in and signed a contract with Open AI, the creators of ChatGPT.The club integrated over 50 AI tools in the hopes they would help them keep pace with the big boys, saving an estimated €1million-a-year in the process. Most are used to help with general administration, but some have more critical roles.For example, injury prevention. Wolfsburg use AI to try and understand which players are at risk of sustaining an injury and how severe it could be. At the time of writing, they currently have nine players sidelined.It’s not like their squad players either. Left-back Rogério has been out with a muscle injury since August 2025. Defender Jenson Seelt, on loan from Sunderland, has also been a huge miss since January.Young Hungarian midfielder Bence Dárdai tore his ACL in November 2025, and is unlikely to feature again this season. Other key players such as Patrick Wimmer, Maximilian Arnold and Jonas Wind have also made multiple visits to the physio’s room throughout the season.Now, of course, AI can’t be entirely blamed for players getting injured, it’s not like Sam Altman (Open AI CEO) ran on to the pitch and two footed a random Wolfsburg ace. If anything, he would have his company build a robot to do it for him.All in all, it’s been a dreadful season for Wolfsburg. They started the season with Paul Simonis at the helm. The 41-year-old Dutchman had plenty of success in his home country, winning the 2024-25 KNVB Cup with Go Ahead Eagles before heading to Germany.Simonis wasn’t given the time to implement his ideas, though, and was sacked after their 2-1 defeat to fellow strugglers Werder Bremen at the start of November. Winning three, drawing two, and losing seven over his five-month spell.Wolfsburg then turned to Daniel Bauer, the youth team coach who had steadied the ship last season, hoping he would do the same. He didn’t. In fact, things got worse. Bauer got three more games than Simonis but ended up with the same points per game average of 0.8.Bauer was handed a contract until the summer of 2027 in December only to be sacked on March 8th following their 2-1 home defeat to Hamburg. So, the higher-ups opened up ChatGPT, typed in “manager bad, who should hire next?”.That’s not actually what happened, at least we don’t think so. Wolfsburg needed someone dependable, who knew the club and could help them navigate the mess they had found themselves in.Wolfsburg landed on Dieter Hecking. The 61-year-old managed Wolfsburg between 2012 and 2016, winning the DFB Pokal and Super Cup during his first spell. It was a smart appointment, the type of decision one makes with their gut rather than a robot. It may just be a case of too little too late.Hecking switched to a back three immediately after taking over. The idea was obvious, Wolfsburg have been shipping goals all season, they’ve conceded 66, the joint most alongside bottom placed FC Heidenheim.So, Wolfsburg needed to shore things up, accept that their opponents will have most of the ball, but so long as they’re well organised, they’ll be able to weather the storm, and hopefully snatch something on the counter or from a set piece.With that plan in mind, Wolfsburg made the trip to Hoffenheim for their first game under Hecking. In the 65th minute, Christian Eriksen whipped in a corner, directly onto the head of Konstantinos Koulierakis, whose looping effort ended up in the back of the net.Everything was looking good, the fans even dared to hope as Wolfsburg were on their way towards a valuable three points. Unfortunately for them, in the 83rd minute, Grischa Promel scored the easiest header of his life to equalise and secure a point.Three consecutive defeats to Werder Bremen, Bayer Leverkusen, and Frankfurt followed. The only upside across those games is that St. Pauli, currently two points above Wolfsburg in the relegation play-off place, were nearly as bad in their games.Wolfsburg faced Union Berlin in Marie-Louise Eta’s first game in charge. It was a genuine moment in footballing history; the first time a woman has led a side in one of Europe’s top five leagues. Hecking’s side spoiled the party.Union were incredibly unlucky. 54% possession, 25 shots, seven on target, and three big chances created. When all is said and done, though, it’s the scoreboard that matters, and Wolfsburg won 2-1 thanks to goals from Patrick Wimmer and Dženan Pejčinović.There are four games remaining for Wolfsburg to save their season. Seven points off Werder Bremen in 15th, realistically, the best they can hope for is a chance to earn their Bundesliga status with whichever side comes third in the 2. Bundesliga.Again, AI isn’t to blame for all the things going wrong at Wolfsburg. Die Wolfe have had to deal with all the normal football things that every struggling club does over the course of a season; bad injuries, poor form, and unfortunate decisions from the on field officials. Perhaps trusting their gut and not an algorithm would’ve helped, though.(Images from IMAGO)You can follow every game from the Bundesliga on FotMob – with in-depth stat coverage, xG, and player ratings, where available. Download the free app here.Add FotMob as a preferred news source on Google by clicking – here.