1.FC Köln have revealed the successor to coach Steffen Baumgart by announcing that Timo Schultz has been handed the job. The former St Pauli and FC Basel coach will take charge of the Billy Goats as they begin the Rückrunde next week at home to Darmstadt.
The parting of the ways with Baumgart following an abysmal Bundesliga Hinrunde started the search for a new trainer for the club’s leaders and the man they have decided on is 46-year-old Timo Schultz.
His playing career ended in 2012 having spent the majority of his career at St. Pauli as a midfielder, and he remained at the club working his way up through coaching the youth teams, to becoming assistant coach and then in 2020 being handed the number one job at the Millerntor. He led the Kiezkickers to tenth place and away from relegation zone in his first season and then finished fifth in his second campaign.
He joined FC Basel in Switzerland in May 2023, but after a poor start with only one league win in seven and elimination in the Europa League qualifiers, he was dismissed in September of the same year.
He takes over a Köln side lying 17th in the Bundesliga table with just ten points and with the added handicap of a transfer ban meaning that the new coach will be forced to make do with the players at his disposal rather than being able to strengthen in any of the next two transfer windows.
What they’re saying:
Christian Keller (sporting director): “A huge task is waiting for us in the coming days, weeks and months, in order to survive in the Bundesliga. We are really happy that Timo Schultz will be the head coach leading us into that challenge. He has personality and the competence to raise the performance potential of our squad. If we take on everything with complete conviction and all our efforts in every area together with Timo Schultz, then we will stay up.”
Timo Schultz: “I am looking forward to this exciting challenge with a fantastic traditional club. We will work a lot in the next few weeks and intensively too, in order to secure the necessary results. FC belong in the Bundesliga. We can stay up, I am 100% convinced of that.”
