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Struggling Bundesliga side 1.FSV Mainz 05 have used the Christmas holiday’s to reorganise its sporting management with long-time manager Christian Heidel becoming the new board member for strategy, sport and communication, while ex-coach Martin Schmidt will take on the newly created position of sporting director. The Zerofivers are making a fresh start with Mainz football DNA.
Christian Heidel has been appointed to the board of directors by the FSV supervisory board. The 57-year-old thus returns to his hometown club, which he helped develop and shape between 1992 and 2016. The Mainz native joins Stefan Hofmann (club and board chairman) and Dr. Jan Lehmann (commercial director) on the club’s three-member board.
Martin Schmidt will act in the newly created position of sporting director, acting between the board and the players. The 53-year-old knows the Zerofivers inside out, having already worked as coach of the Under-23s from 2010 to 2015 and as coach of the Bundesliga first team from 2015 until 2017.
Meanwhile there will also be a change in the coaching position. The club has released head coach Jan-Moritz Lichte. The 40-year-old had been working as an assistant coach with the first team since 2017 and took over as head coach in September. Jan Siewert, head coach of Mainz’s youth academy, will be in charge of first team training on a transitional basis.
Mainz 05 chairman Stefan Hofmann said, “Jan-Moritz Lichte is an absolute football expert, who has made a special contribution to the club in a difficult situation. We owe him our thanks for that. We have agreed with him that we will sit down together and discuss to what extent there can be a future role for him at Mainz 05.”
