Premier League: Fix: Liverpool FC hires Schmadtke as sports director

premier league
Fix: Liverpool FC hires Schmadtke as sports director

Sports director at Liverpool FC: Jörg Schmadtke. photo

© Tom Weller/dpa

Liverpool FC brings Jörg Schmadtke as new sporting director. The 59-year-old should initiate the upheaval with Jürgen Klopp. A lot of work awaits both of them.

Jörg Schmadtke will be the new sports director at Liverpool FC and will work with coach Jürgen Klopp at the traditional English club.

This was announced by the football club, which ended the Premier League season in fifth place. As the Europa League participant announced, former Wolfsburg manager Schmadtke will start working in Anfield on June 1, provided the necessary work permit is obtained.

Liverpool did not provide any information on the length of the contract. According to the British media, the contract is initially short-term, but could be extended. The 59-year-old Schmadtke, who last worked as managing director at VfL Wolfsburg for four and a half years, succeeds Julian Ward, who is leaving the club this summer after more than ten years.

“A wealth of knowledge and experience”

Schmadtke brings “a wealth of knowledge and experience” with him, President Mike Gordon was quoted as saying by the owner company Fenway Sports Group. He will support Jürgen Klopp with the department for football operations, with the aim “that the club grows and develops in all areas”.

A lot of work awaits the new sporting director at Liverpool. Former top performers such as Roberto Firmino and James Milner, as well as ex-Leipziger Naby Keita, who failed to assert himself at Anfield, are leaving the club. After a botched season, the team, which last year won the FA Cup and League Cup and narrowly missed out on the league, is on the verge of an upheaval.

The former goalkeeper, who was in goal for Fortuna Düsseldorf, SC Freiburg, Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Mönchengladbach during his playing days, gave up his managerial position in Wolfsburg in January and had actually already retired. Before joining Lower Saxony, Schmadtke also worked for Alemannia Aachen, Hannover 96 and 1. FC Köln.

Schäfer is happy for Schmadtke

The news was received positively by his former employer in Wolfsburg. “Liverpool FC is a world club, there are only a few comparable clubs in this category, so I’m really happy for him,” said Marcel Schäfer, Schmadtke’s successor as VfL’s sporting director.

“In the beginning I had mixed feelings because I know how much he was looking forward to the time after his career. But he decided to do this of his own free will,” said Schäfer: “And when a club like that comes knocking, then that is extraordinary and for him also a great recognition and appreciation of his career.”

dpa

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