Arunava about Football A look at football & the world through my eyes!
Related Articles
FC Schalke 04 have concluded their search for a new head coach and appointed their ideal candidate. Karel Geraerts signed a deal valid until June 30, 2025 on Sunday, October 8 evening. Belgium’s Coach of the Year for 2022/23 will take charge of his first training session on Wednesday.
“We’re delighted that we have been able to secure our ideal candidate in Karel Geraerts. André and I have worked extremely hard over the past two weeks to find the perfect coach for us. The process closely involved the sports committee and Youri Mulder in particular, someone who is particularly well connected in the Netherlands and Belgium. We knew after our first meeting that Karel Geraerts possesses all the things we want for a Schalke head coach,” said Peter Knäbel, board member for sport.
“We felt a sense of trust with Karel from the very beginning of our talks. He was incredibly prepared and presented us analysis of how he aims to find solutions on the pitch. He has a clear approach to the game, which is about intensity, purpose and efficiency. As our new coach, he will bring a new playing style for our team and is incredibly eager to implement that together with everyone here,” added sporting director André Hechelmann. “Karel isn’t just capable of developing individual players, but also the team as a whole, something which he more than proved at Royal Union Saint-Gilloise, and it was an important factor in our decision.”
The new head coach is also looking forward to his new challenge: “Before anything else, I’d like to thank Peter Knäbel and André Hechelmann for putting their trust in me. Talking about solutions, ideas and concepts for how to get Schalke 04 back on track with two footballers has been really fun,” said Karel Geraerts. “I’m going to really embrace this challenge and want to use the international break to settle in to the Schalke setup as quickly as possible and work intensely with the team.”
For the time being, the new head coach will do that with the current coaching team. “We are working on appointing an assistant coach as quickly as possible,” explained André Hechelmann. “On top of that, we will see in the coming months whether we need to make further staff changes.”
The 41-year-old’s most recent post was at Belgian first-division side Royal Union Saint-Gilloise. Geraerts started out as assistant coach in 2019 in the Belgian second tier. Alongside head coach Felice Mazzù, he helped the side to become second-division champions and gain promotion to the Belgian Pro League in the 2020/21 season. The very next season, they finished on top of the league table in the regular season and qualified for Europe. The Belgian then stepped up to the role of head coach for the 2022/23 season and led the side to a strong third-place finish. The team looked impressive in the Europa League, too, reaching the quarter-finals before being knocked out by Bayer Leverkusen.
Geraerts made 334 appearances in the Jupiler Pro League during his playing career and helped Club Brugge to become Pro League champions, as well as two-time Belgian cup winners. The centre midfielder also played 20 times for the Belgium national team, scoring four goals.
