FC Köln have found a replacement for Steffen Baumgart: Timo Schultz (46), formerly of St. Pauli and FC Basel, will take charge of the Billy Goats as he looks to guide the club out of the relegation zone.
“A big task awaits us in the coming days, weeks and months to ensure we stay in the Bundesliga,” said Köln Managing Director Christian Keller. “We are very pleased that Timo Schultz will be responsible for this task. He has the personality and competence to raise the performance potential of our team. Let’s approach this together with Timo Schultz will full conviction and total dedication in all areas, and then we will succeed in staying in the league.”
Schultz most recently worked as head coach of FC Basel, where he was employed from July 2023 until September 2023 before he was dismissed after a poor start to the season. Born in Wittmund, Schultz almost achieved promotion to the Bundesliga with St. Pauli in the 2021/22 season but their form dropped off before the Hamburg club finished fifth, and missed out. After a poor start to the 2022/23 season, with St. Pauli in 15th heading into the winter break, Schultz was dismissed.
Speaking via the club’s website, Schultz said: “I’m looking forward to a very attractive job at this great club. We’ll do a lot of intense work in the coming weeks to achieve the required results. FC belong in the Bundesliga. We’ll stay up, I 100 percent believe that.”
Schultz will be officially presented as Baumgart’s successor at FC Köln on Thursday afternoon.
GGFN | Daniel Pinder
