Schalke 04’s board announced on Wednesday that the club has decided to part ways with head coach Felix Magath, ending a nearly two-year association with one of the Bundesliga’s most successful managers in the last decade. The decision comes just days after Schalke 04 defeated Eintracht Frankfurt with a late goal by Angelos Charisteas, one of Magath’s most recent signings. Die Köngisblauen are also through to the quarterfinals of the Champions League and will face MSV Duisburg in the final of the DFB-Pokal for a chance at the Westphalian side’s first significant silverware since 2002. However, Magath’s side had not been performing nearly as well in the Bundesliga; Schalke are in tenth with eight games to play, ten points behind the final relegation place and five above the drop.
Schalke 04 Sack Head Coach Felix Magath
After a significant drop-off in league form since last season, when Schalke finished second, just two points behind champions Bayern Munich, supervisory board chairman Clemens Tönnies said in a statement on the club’s website that “there are very good reasons for this parting of the ways,” adding that “[Schalke 04] will not be making them public because legal proceedings are set to follow.” There has been speculation that Magath lost favor with the players, many of whom he brought to the Veltins Arena in the last two transfer windows.
Magath’s firing is the eighth coaching change since the beginning of the Bundesliga season, and his second dismissal in the last three clubs he has managed. The former German international midfielder was sacked by Bayern Munich in 2007 after winning successive domestic doubles, and left VfL Wolfsburg to join Schalke after winning the Bundesliga in 2009.
