Youngest professional league coach: Hürzeler becomes head coach at FC St. Pauli

fAbian Hürzeler is to lead FC St. Pauli, which is threatened with relegation, out of the crisis as head coach. The 29-year-old previous interim coach will take over the post at the second division soccer club with immediate effect, making him the youngest coach in the three German professional leagues. FC announced the personnel on Friday. Hürzeler succeeds Timo Schultz, who was released by the club about two weeks ago.

“It is a privilege to be able to work here. I’m really excited about the work and I’m convinced that we will be successful again with unity and intensity,” the native American was quoted as saying in a tweet.

Hürzeler, who led the training last time, is said to be 15th in the table. save from relegation from the 2nd league. Under the previous coach Schultz, he had worked as an assistant coach for Hamburg.

While Schultz had to go after 17 years in various functions at the Kiezclub, as did assistant Loic Favé, the other “co” from the coaching team now took over responsibility. “I’m not going to do the big zampano and turn everything inside out,” said Hürzeler at his presentation.

Hürzeler joined the cult club in 2020 when Schultz had succeeded Jos Luhukay. “I previously sat in on Timo in Hamburg. That’s when you realized that we were on the same wavelength when it came to football,” he said at the time. “Fabian showed during his time as assistant coach and interim head coach that he tackles the challenges in a very structured way and offers concrete solutions,” praised sports director Andreas Bornemann.

The club examined various options. In this situation, Hürzeler is the “optimal choice for us,” said Bornemann. Well-known names such as former Wolfsburg and Bremen coach Florian Kohfeldt have also been linked to St. Pauli.

It was also conceivable that Hürzeler would go back to the second rank, but now he is number one. As a player-coach (2016 to 2020), he led the Bavarian club FC Pipinsried twice to the regional league, he was the assistant coach of the U18s and U20s at the DFB before moving to FC St. Pauli. The coach, who was born in Houston/Texas, is currently doing his football teaching license and is expected to finish it in March. Already on December 27th the club starts with the hot phase of preparation for the second half of the season. St. Pauli will start the second half of the season on January 29 with a guest appearance at 1. FC Nürnberg.