Friday , March 29 2024

Schalke 04 relieve head coach Manuel Baum of his duties!

Ahead of the last two games of 2020, Jochen Schneider, Head of Sport and Communication, and the board have taken the decision that Schalke 04 head coach Manuel Baum has been relieved of his duties with immediate effect. Huub Stevens will take charge as interim head coach for the last Bundesliga game of the year against Arminia Bielefeld (Sat, 15:30 CET) as well as the second-round DFB-Pokal game against SSV Ulm 1846 (Tues, 18:30 CET). Mike Büskens has been brought in as his assistant coach.

“The home game against Arminia Bielefeld is hugely important for our club. The disappointing performance against SC Freiburg showed us that the side requires new impetus to be successful in this game. We trust Huub Stevens and Mike Büskens to do exactly that,” explains Jochen Schneider. “We thank Manuel Baum for his tireless work and wish him both personally and professionally the best for the future.”

Huub Stevens takes charge of the Royal Blues for the fourth time. The Dutchman was head coach between 1996 and 2002 as well as between 2011 and 2012. Stevens also stepped in towards the end of the 2018/19 season as interim head coach. Due to the great success achieved under his leadership – the UEFA Cup victory in 1997, the DFB-Pokal wins in 2001 and 2002 and being runners-up in the league in 2001 – Schalke fans voted the 67-year-old to be the head coach of the team of the century. Stevens has been on the supervisory board since 2018.

Mike Büskens has also enjoyed a successful career at Schalke. During his playing days, “Buyo” was part of their Eurofighter side that won the 1997 UEFA Cup. He was an assistant at Schalke from 2008 to 2009. During that period, he twice stepped in as interim head coach, for the final six games of the 2007/08 season and the final nine games of 2008/09. Büskens’ most recent role was as the coordinator between players on loan and Schalke’s international engagement. For the past several weeks, the former Bundesliga player (370 appearances) has been part of the team responsible for planning the first-team squad.

As in the 2018/19 season, the decision to appoint Huub Stevens, who is currently an elected member of the supervisory board, as interim head coach has been made by the board in line with the FC Schalke 04 articles of association. The club will provide further information about who could be appointed as Baum’s successor following next week’s DFB-Pokal match.

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