FC Schalke 04 has a new coach: As expected, Frank Kramer will be responsible for the fortunes of the promoted team in the future. For the traditional club, it’s about staying up. In April, Kramer in Bielefeld was no longer expected to do that.
Now it’s official: Frank Kramer is the new coach of FC Schalke 04 and is supposed to re-establish the traditional club from the Ruhr area in the Bundesliga. As announced by the newcomer, the 50-year-old successor to interim coach Mike Büskens will receive a contract until 2024. The day before, several media had reported on the personnel. “Frank is an absolute team player. Someone who can lead people and likes to gather experts around him to find the best possible solution for the team. And at the same time he is always ready to lead the way and take responsibility – in our opinion, a success-oriented combination.” , said sports director Rouven Schröder.
Born in Memmingen, Kramer was only released on April 20 by Arminia Bielefeld, who was later relegated, and is now getting another chance in the German football league. Board member Peter Knäbel set the direction: “First of all, we asked ourselves, independently of people and fundamentally, what profile a new coach should have in order to play football successfully with Schalke 04. And success in our current situation means staying up in the 2022/2023 class – that’s what it’s going to be about.”
Before his time at Arminia, with which Kramer managed to stay in the class last year, the sports and English teacher worked at Fortuna Düsseldorf, TSG Hoffenheim and SpVgg Greuther Fürth, among others. In Fürth he worked in 2013 and 2014 with Rouven Schröder, who now brought Kramer to Gelsenkirchen as sports director.
Tactically, the coach is a friend of a stable back four in defense and an advocate of a run-intensive game. In addition, he has already coached several youth national teams of the German Football Association and worked in the youth departments of professional clubs. He will also have more contact with young players at Schalke. The financially stricken Revierclub cannot afford many seasoned, expensive Bundesliga professionals even after the return to the Premier League during this transfer period.
Kramer is following in big sporting footsteps and will also be measured by the success of his predecessor. Büskens not only managed promotion with eight wins from nine games as a coach, but was also a part of the Eurofighter team that won the 1997 UEFA Cup against Inter Milan. The 54-year-old is a Schalke through and through. It is correspondingly popular around Rudi-Assauer-Platz.
After completing the ascent mission, Büskens voluntarily withdrew to the second rank. He could be seen as a shadow coach and quickly be called upon by the fans if things don’t go well under Kramer. Edin Terzic had taken on a similar role at the district rival Borussia Dortmund and thus possibly accelerated the separation from Marco Rose.
In the coming weeks, Kramer will work with Schröder to plan the squad in order to put together a powerful first division team. The start of training with his new team is scheduled for June 20th.
