Third division Kaiserslautern: coach Antwerp goes – Schuster comes – sport

There was this moment, a good three weeks ago, when everything seemed to be going well in the Palatinate. 1. FC Kaiserslautern had just defeated 1. FC Saarbrücken 3-1, the old Saar-Palatinate derby from the days when Kaiserslautern became German champions and Saarbrücken played in the European Cup. Lautern won, even outnumbered, in front of almost 50,000 spectators on the Betzenberg – on paper it was the last difficult game of the current third division season. In the following games against Wiesbaden, Dortmund II and Viktoria Köln, direct promotion to the second division would then be secured. one thought.

Three weeks and three defeats later, nothing is good in Kaiserslautern, on the contrary. The old FCK has returned in record time: the club with the notorious “nervous environment” that has now led to the coach being swapped for Dresden immediately before the relegation games. Marco Antwerp has to go, Dirk Schuster takes over. The club announced this on Tuesday evening. Schuster is scheduled to lead the first training session tomorrow, Wednesday.

Should now lead the FCK in the second division: Dirk Schuster.

(Photo: Thomas Eisenhuth/Bongarts/Getty Images)

The change of coach was preceded by two days that would be charmingly described as “restless”. After the 2-0 defeat at Viktoria Köln, which destroyed the last chance of direct promotion, the managing director Thomas Hengen gave the SWR a critical interview, spoke of an “indisputable appearance”, criticized the body language and the commitment. Shortly thereafter, the Cologne newspaper published express an article in which she wrote that there was a rumor that Antwerp was being relieved of its post and – surprise! – the World Cup record scorer and ex-Lauterer Miroslav Klose should take care of the club in the relegation against Dynamo Dresden. Of the express even specifically named the alleged originator of this alleged idea: the investor group “Saar-Pfalz-Invest”, which recently held 33 percent of the club’s shares.

The committees in Kaiserslautern discussed for almost two days – now Dirk Schuster takes over

It’s nothing out of the ordinary when rumors about a football game spread and end up in a newspaper. However, 1. FC Kaiserslautern remained silent so stubbornly that the matter not only seemed strange to most fans, but soon also to the coach who was still in office at the time.

Antwerp, who saved Kaiserslautern from relegation to the regional league last year, led the club towards promotion places after a bumpy start to the season and is not unpopular with many fans in the Palatinate, was still in the unclear situation on Tuesday morning from local media asked if he was still a coach at all. To which he answered “yes”. “Of course, the club always has the right to install a new coach if they deem it necessary,” said Stefan Backs, Antwerp consultant on Tuesday morning. However, he harshly criticized the club’s communication, calling the behavior “unprofessional”.

For almost two days, the committees in Kaiserslautern discussed what to do next. In the organizational chart, Managing Director Hengen reports to a five-member advisory board, consisting of three representatives of the association and two representatives from the group of investors mentioned. There was presumably a need to speak, especially about the fact that the team had an almost inexplicable drop in performance in the last three games of the season. Especially in the 3-1 draw against Dortmund II, a home game in front of 50,000 spectators, the team seemed hopeless and unimaginative. In addition to Antwerp, assistant coach Frank Döpper is also parting ways, and Sascha Franz will assist Dirk Schuster.

Schuster last coached FC Erzgebirge Aue, where he parted ways in May 2021 after a 3:8 defeat against SC Paderborn – albeit at a time when Aue was already sure of staying up in the second division. Schuster’s greatest success as a coach was promotion to the Bundesliga with Darmstadt 98 and relegation the following season.

Because FCK would have met Türkgücü Munich on the last matchday of the third division, which has since been canceled from the game, the team will not be able to play next weekend. So the next game is the relegation first leg in Kaiserslautern on May 20th, the second leg will take place four days later in Dresden.

After all, Schuster has experience with this format: in 2014, Darmstadt, who he coached, managed to get promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga against Arminia Bielefeld in a memorable second leg, the decisive goal to make it 4-2 came in overtime. However, Schuster had been the team coach for over 1.5 years at the time – and not ten days.

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