Schalke have taken a first step reorganizing their back room, securing the services of Jochen Schneider from RB Leipzig. Schneider spent many years with Stuttgart before joining the Red Bull empire.
Image: imago
Advertisement
Schalke will appoint 48-year-old Jochen Schneider on a contract running until June 2022.
The current head of sport and internationalization at RB Leipzig was suggested to Schalke's board by chairman Clemens Tönnies and unanimously approved. His first task will be to appoint a sporting director, according to the club.
"For me it's a great honor on the one hand and a huge challenge on the other, to take over this post at FC Schalke 04," Schneider said. "Schalke exudes a particular charisma that reaches far beyond the Ruhr Valley and beyond Germany. The current situation shows that we have a lot of work ahead of us. But I am looking forward to tackling this collectively at Schalke."
Schalke, traditionally among the competitors for Champions League football, are languishing in 14th in the Bundesliga. The Royal Blues were dismantled 3-0 in Mainz on the weekend, after falling just short in a tough midweek Champions League encounter with Manchester City.
Many of the instant reactions to the move focused on the contrast between historic working class club Schalke and the corporate upstarts in Leipzig, Salzburg and beyond.
But despite the differences in the two clubs' images, their heavy focus and reliance on developing young talents bears some comparison. Tönnies alluded to this in Schalke's announcement.
"We formulated a clear profile for the role of head of sports: an experienced football expert with a first-class national and international network in the professional game, and who has pursued modern concepts with success in recent years," Tönnies said. "Jochen Schneider fits this bill."
Prior to his years with the Red Bull football franchise, Schneider spent more than a decade with VfB Stuttgart as sporting director, a tenure that included their Bundesliga title season of 2007.
Schalke said Schneider's first public appointment in royal blue would be next Tuesday, March 6.
Bundesliga matchday 23 roundup
Wolfsburg notched up another impressive away win against Borussia Mönchengladbach while Dortmund and Bayern secured narrow wins in different ways. Elsewhere, another dispiriting loss meant time for change at Schalke.
Image: Imago/Jan Huebner
Stuttgart 5-1 Hannover
Stuttgart steam-rolled Hannover in the big relegation six-pointer on Sunday. Victory would have seen Hannover climb above Stuttgart in the table, but that was never on the cards. Mario Gomez fired the hosts into a fourth minute lead and an Ozan Muhammed Kabak brace put Stuttgart in firm control. Jonathas de Jesus pulled one back for Hannover, but Steven Zuber added two more to complete the rout.
Image: Imago/J. Huebner
Hannover 0 - 3 Eintracht Frankfurt
Adi Hütter's players completed a perfect week on Sunday. After beating Shakhtar Donetsk in the Europa League on Thursday, Eintracht beat strugglers Hannover, keeping the Eagles unbeaten in 2019. Ante Rebic, Bundesliga top scorer Luka Jovic (pictured) and Filip Kostic were all on the scoresheet for the visitors and Hannover's chances of staying up are looking slimmer by the week.
Image: Imago/Jan Huebner
RB Leipzig 1 - 1 Hoffenheim
For much of this one, an early strike from Andrej Kramaric (above) looked to have given Julian Nagelsmann victory over his future employers. In the absence of Timo Werner, Leipzig looked blunt for much of the match but captain Willi Orban rescued a point from close range in the 89th minute.
Image: Imago/J. Huebner
Borussia Dortmund 3 - 2 Bayer Leverkusen
Mario Götze (center) scored the decisive third as BVB won their first match in six. The hosts opened the scoring through Dan-Axel Zagadou, only to be pegged back immediately by Kevin Volland. Jadon Sancho's sublime volley made it three goals in seven minutes just before the break then Götze struck in the second half. Jonathan Tah's late header couldn't save Peter Bosz on his return to Dortmund.
Image: Imago/DeFodi
Borussia Mönchengladbach 0 - 3 Wolfsburg
A second half double from Admir Mehmedi and Yannick Gerhardt's 38th-minute strike led Wolfsburg to a second successive 3-0 win and up to fifth, for 24 hours at least. The Wolves have now taken 10 points from their last four games and are just five points off their opponents, who are now without a win in three.
Image: Reuters/W. Rattay
Bayern Munich 1 - 0 Hertha Berlin
Javi Martinez' nodded home a James Rodriguez corner just after the hour mark to secure a hard-fought win for the champions. Hertha had the better of the first half chances but couldn't convert. After bringing on Thiago, Bayern improved after the break but a late injury to substitute Kingsley Coman will be troubling for Niko Kovac.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/C. Stache
Freiburg 5 - 1 Augsburg
Nils Petersen (center) was among the scorers as Freiburg picked up their biggest Bundeslgia win of Christian Streich's long reign as head coach. Petersen scored the first and third as Vincenzo Grifo, Luca Waldschmidt and Florian Niederlechner also got on the scoresheet. Rani Khedira briefly made it a contest while Reece Oxford saw red for the visitors late on.
Image: Getty Images/A. Scheuber
Mainz 3 - 0 Schalke
It's carnival time in Mainz and their club provided even more reason for celebration with a dominant win over Schalke. Karim Onisiwo (pictured) was the star, scoring a spectacular opener after 19 minutes and adding Mainz's third after substitute Jean-Philippe Mateta had scored the second. Schalke announced after the game that sporting director Christain Heidel would leave at the end of the season.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/T. Silz
Fortuna Düsseldorf 2-1 Nuremberg
Friedhelm Funkel's side took a big step towards securing another season in Germany's top flight with a 2-1 win over Nuremberg. The away team were reduced to ten men after Matheus Pereira was sent off four minutes in, but took a 41st minute lead thanks to Eduard Lowen's fine strike. However, Funkel's players turned things around through an own goal from Ewerthon (top) and a late Kaan Ayhan header.
Image: picture-alliance
Werder Bremen 1-1 Stuttgart
Werder Bremen recovered from going behind inside a minute to salvage a point against stuttering Stuttgart on Friday. The visitors got off to the perfect start when Steven Zuber slotted the ball home after 59 seconds, stunning the Weserstadion. But Stuttgart couldn't take their lead into the break as Davy Klaassen leveled in first half injury time.
