2nd league
Dirk Schuster before returning to Darmstadt: “That was stupid of us”
Kaiserslautern’s coach Dirk Schuster returns to Darmstadt. photo
© Matthias Bein/dpa
Before his return to the Böllenfalltor with 1. FC Kaiserslautern, Dirk Schuster takes a self-critical look at his former departure and his subsequent return to SV Darmstadt 98.
Before his return to the Böllenfalltor with 1. FC Kaiserslautern, Dirk Schuster takes a self-critical look at his former departure and his subsequent return to SV Darmstadt 98.
He would do it differently afterwards, said the FCK head coach before the game at the top of the 2nd Bundesliga on Saturday (8:30 p.m. / Sky) about his move to FC Augsburg in 2016. The arrangement with Darmstadt was somewhat unfortunate in terms of communication at the time. “In other words, that was stupid of us. But the matter has long since been resolved,” said Schuster in a dpa interview.
The 55-year-old, who lives in Karlsruhe, once marched from the 3rd to the 1st league with the lilies and was named “Soccer Coach of the Year” in Germany in 2016. After the outsider stayed in the class, he was hired by FC Augsburg. He had to leave there after half a year. Schuster returned to Darmstadt in 2017 and secured the southern Hesse team to remain in the second division before the club parted ways with him in 2019.
Coach veteran Felix Magath once said to him: The step back to Darmstadt was a mistake, said Schuster, “because you are judged too much by previous successes”. From the overall picture he had to say today: “He was right.” Before the game in Darmstadt, promoted Lautern is weakening a bit under Schuster and has fallen out of the top group. The lilies have recently suffered two defeats, but are still leaders in front of Hamburger SV.