Now it is official: Frank Baumann will be the new sports director of FC Schalke 04. The 49-year-old former international has signed a “long-term contract” for the second division soccer team, as the district club announced on Wednesday.
The former managing director of Werder Bremen will start his new job on June 1st. “I am convinced: With our fans, employees and the energy of this club, we can make a difference together – step by step, but with a clear goal: to make Schalke a permanent and successful first division team again”said Baumann according to the club announcement.
Baumann has had a lot of experience at Werder Bremer
The position of the sports director was vacant for the Gelsenkirchener, which is currently eleven in the table, after Peter Knäbel’s departure around 2023/2024. Baumann has a lot of experience, especially from his time at Werder Bremen. For the northern Germans, he worked as a player and official with short interruptions from 1999 to the summer of 2024.
Sports director Yuri Mulder had already confirmed the personnel against Ulm on the Sunday before the Schalke game, with only the approval of the Supervisory Board. Baumann also convinced that: “In the conversations, Frank showed very clearly where he sees opportunities and challenges to permanently lead Schalke back to the Bundesliga”according to Schalke’s chairman of the supervisory board Axel Hefer
Schalke 04 is a club with an incredible tradition, a large fan base and a lot of potential.
Frank Baumann
Baumann – players and managers in Bremen
Baumann, who played 356 games for Werder Bremen during his active career, also has great experience at official level. In 2010 he moved to the management of the north club, where he held several positions. Most recently, from 2016 to 2024, he worked as managing director of sports and experienced numerous ups and downs there.
At the Gelsenkircheners, he should now put together a team with which Bundesliga return can be realized in the medium term. At the same time, he has to achieve transfer revenues with the players in order to steer the highly indebted association financially in the right direction.
Schalke negotiated with many candidates
At Schalke, the post of the sports director according to Peter Knäbel was vacant around the year 2023/2024. Before Baumann, the miners had spoken to some other candidates – including Fredi Bobic, Jörg Schmadtke, Jonas Bolt and Dietmar Beiersdorfer. But either the club sometimes suffered painful cancellations or could not be agreed.
