Another sacking
March 22, 2011
Bundesliga soccer club Eintracht Frankfurt appointed Christoph Daum as their new head coach on Tuesday, just hours after firing Michael Skibbe, in a bid to avoid relegation to the second division.
Daum, 57, had been out of a job since parting company with the Turkish side Fenerbahce last June. He is to take charge of the team until the end of the current season, but Frankfurt's chairman, Heribert Bruchhagen, said that both sides hoped to work together beyond that date. He said the decision to sack Skibbe came as a direct result of the team's recent poor performances.
"We took this step because we showed clear weaknesses in the second half of the season," Bruchhagen told reporters in Frankfurt.
Eintracht had started out the season well, and were in seventh place in the standings at the winter break. Since then, they have dropped to 14th, just three points above the relegation zone.
The team had gone winless in 2011 until Saturday, when they defeated relegation candidates St. Pauli 2-1.
Daum, who is to take charge of training on Wednesday, has a solid track record in the Bundesliga. He won the Bundesliga title with Stuttgart in 1992 and had successful spells at both Bayer Leverkusen and Cologne. He had been set to become Germany's national team coach before testing positive for cocaine in 2000.
Skibbe is the 10th Bundesliga coach to be sacked this season.
Author: Chuck Penfold (SID, Reuters, AFP)
Editor: Nancy Isenson