After narrowly avoiding relegation under a caretaker coach, Schalke have a new appointee in David Wagner. The former Bundesliga star hopes to turn the club's fortunes around.
David Wagner playing for Schalke in 1996Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Scheidemann
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Bundesliga football club Schalke 04 have appointed a new coach for the coming season, it announced on Thursday.
David Wagner will take over from interim coach Huub Stevens, who was been in the job since Domenico Tedesco left in March. His contract at the Gelsenkirchen club runs until 2022.
The 47-year-old German-American last coached Huddersfield in the English Premier League.
Wagner played for Schalke in the late 1990s, helping win the 1997 UEFA Cup. He later became junior coach at TSG Hoffenheim before taking over Borussia Dortmund's second team for four years. At the end of 2015, he moved to England to join Huddersfield and sensationally led the club into the Premier League in 2017.
He resigned at the beginning of 2019, when the club was in last place.
"We are delighted to have recruited David Wagner, a coach who perfectly matches our requirements profile," said sports director Jochen Schneider.
Schneider said Wagner shapes football in such a way "that the team takes the reins of action into its own hands, running intensively, with as much speed as possible." But he is "also one who can mold a team with his personality and improve players individually."
Last Sunday Schalke narrowly kept itself in the top league with a 0-0 draw against Augsburg, before the team celebrated a surprising 4-2 victory over Borussia Dortmund.
"Wagner said the chance to help Schalke develop and improve was "the biggest motivation for me to return to the Bundesliga."
aw/jm (dpa, SID)
Borussia Dortmund vs. Schalke: Germany's biggest local rivalry
Schalke are set to visit Dortmund in the latest edition of the Revierderby in the Bundesliga. Here we look back at some of the most memorable moments in Germany's biggest local rivalry.
Image: picture-alliance/Fotostand/Wundrig
An English record setter
In the two teams' last encounter, in the Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen, last December, it was a young Englishman who made the difference in Dortmund's 2-1 victory. BVB winger Jadon Sancho beat Schalke goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann in the 74th minute for the win. This made Sancho, who was still just 18 at the time, the youngest goal scorer for Dortmund in Revierderby history.
Image: Getty Images/Bongarts/L. Baron
What a difference a year makes!
A year ago, Schalke were on their way to a second-place finish and qualification for the Champions League. A 35-year-old Brazilian by the name of Naldo was still at the club and he scored with an incredible free kick to make it 2-0 in the Veltins-Arena. It was Schalke's first Revierderby win since 2014. A year later, Naldo is gone and Schalke are fourth from the bottom of the table.
Image: Reuters/L. Kuegeler
Four-goal comeback
Naldo was also Schalke's hero in the first Revierderby of 2017-18, which was without a doubt one of the most exciting. Dortmund dominated from the kickoff, going up by four goals in the first half hour, but Schalke staged a remarkable comeback in the second half. The Brazilian central defender scored with a header four minutes into time-added-on to give Schalke a 4-4 draw in Dortmund.
Image: picture-alliance/Fotostand/Wundrig
A red card for the ref
Emotions often run high in the Revierderby and the one in Gelsenkirchen in April 2017 was a case in point. Referee Felix Zwayer denied Schalke a penalty and then-coach Markus Weinzierl (third from right) protested a little too vigorously. After he was sent to the stands, Schalke mascot Erwin brandished a red card at referee Zwayer. The match ended 1-1 and Erwin got off with a warning.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/G. Kirchner
BVB win in the fog
The fog was so thick in Dortmund in November 1966, that some referees might have declined to go ahead with the match. Not Gerd Henning: "Every time somebody kicked the ball into the fog, I chased after it," he said afterwards. "It was strenuous, but it was okay. BVB dealt better with the conditions, winning 6-2. Lothar Emmerich's hat trick is the only one ever scored in a Ruhr derby.
Image: Imago/Horstmüller
Fido bites Friedel
One of the strangest things to happen during a Revierderby came in Dortmund in September 1969. After a Schalke goal, some of the spectators invaded the pitch, so the stewards used dogs to drive them back. One of the dogs bit Schalke defender Friedel Rausch in the backside. Despite his pain, Rausch was able to play on.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
A goal against his future club
In December 1997, Schalke goalkeeper Jens Lehmann (fourth from left) scored a last-minute goal to earn his team a 2-2 draw in Dortmund. Among the players who have been on both sides of the Ruhr derby, Lehmann is the record holder, having made 11 appearances for Schalke and nine for Dortmund.
Image: ullstein bild - Firo
Penalty spoiler
Frank Rost was the man of the match in Dortmund in January 2004. The Schalke goalkeeper saved two penalties, first from Jan Koller, then from Torsten Frings. Rost would go on to keep a clean sheet and Ebbe Sand's goal shortly before the final whistle gave Schalke a 1-0 win.
Image: picture-alliance /dpa/F.-P. Tschauner
Longest undefeated streak
The derby in Dortmund in December of that same year was also decided by a single Schalke goal. This time it was the Brazilian Ailton (right) who got the winner. This extended Schalke's undefeated streak in the derby to 12 matches — the longest in the history of encounters between Schalke and BVB.
Image: picture-alliance/Ulmer/B. Hacke
Royal Blue hopes dashed
One of the most bitter derby encounters for Schalke. In Dortmund in May of 2007, Schalke's hopes of winning the Bundesliga title ebbed away. In the penultimate match of the season, Alexander Frei and Ebi Smolarek (second from right) both scored in a Dortmund win. Schalke players Christian Pander (left) and Fabian Ernst were clearly not impressed.
Image: picture-alliance/Ulmer/L. Coch
Back from the dead
After an hour of play in Dortmund in September 2008, Schalke were up 3-0 and looked to have all but won the match. After BVB pulled one back, though, Schalke had two players sent off in the space of five minutes. Dortmund got two more to earn a 3-3 draw. The last one was this Alexander Frei penalty in the 89th minute.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Scheidemann
Batman and Robin
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (left) scored the goal that put BVB up 1-0 at home in February of 2015. He and teammate Marco Reus celebrated by donning previously concealed Batman and Robin masks. Dortmund went on to win 3-0. Four years on, Aubameyang is long gone, plying his trade for Arsenal of the EPL, while Reus remains in Dortmund - and is in the form of his life.
