Torsten Frings takes the reigns at Darmstadt

Bundesliga club Darmstadt have announced that Torsten Frings (pictured above, left) will take over as coach of the Bundesliga's last-placed team. His contract runs until 2018.

"We are pleased that in Torsten Frings we have hired a head coach who is known for his directness and authenticity," club President Rüdiger Fritsch said in a statement posted on Darmstadt's official website. 

"He brings with him a wealth of experience in football as both a Bundesliga and national team player. So we are convinced that despite not having a great deal of coaching experience, he will be able to achieve success in his new position due to his expert knowledge, his ambition and his ability to work as part of a team," Fritsch added.

"I am very pleased that those in positions of responsibilty at SV Darmstadt 98 have placed their trust in me," Frings said. 

"I am aware of how difficult this task will be, but I was always a battler and a team player, and this is how I will approach this job - beginning in earnest with the start of training on January 3," he added. 

 The 40-year-old Frings, who completed his coaching badges in 2015, has no head coaching experience, but he was an assistant under former Werder Bremen bench boss Viktor Skripnik, until both were sacked after the club lost their first three games of the season.

 

Frings played 402 games in the Bundesliga, mainly for Werder Bremen, scoring 49 goals.  He scored 10 goals in his 79 appearances for Germany.

Frings is to replace Ramon Berndroth, who took over at Darmstadt on a caretaker basis after the club parted ways with former head coach Norbert Meier and sporting director Holger Fach in early December, after the team had suffered their fifth straight defeat.

Darmstadt, who went into the season as one of the favorites to be relegated, were in 16th place at the time of Meier's firing, but have since slipped to 18th and last place in the Bundesliga standings.

Frings' appointment comes a day after the man who was thought to be Darmstadt's primary target, former St. Pauli, Hoffenheim, and Cologne head coach Holger Stanislawski turned down an offer from the club.