24 hours before the official start of training, the second division soccer team FC Schalke 04 officially presented its new coach on Friday: Miron Muslic signed a contract until June 30, 2027.
In Germany, the Austrian with Bosnian roots is a blank leaf. The 42-year-old changes from the English second division relegated Plymouth Argyle to the district club. He celebrated his greatest success in Belgium. With Cercle Bruges, he moved into the UEFA Conference League last summer.
No clear season goals after two disappointing seasons
None of his previous coaching stations should have adequately prepared him for what Muslic expects at Schalke. After all, the second division club in Germany has the most members to Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund. And at 193,000 (as of March 2025) that is more than Bruges inhabitants.
After the Bundesliga descent 2023, Schalke in the 2nd league did not even have enough for a single-digit place in the table in two seasons. Rank 14 at the end of last season was a new low point, which was acknowledged by the fans with corresponding expression of displeasure.
Schalke is still a giant in German football.
Schalke trainer Miron Muslic
Muslic probably deliberately refrained from concrete season goals in his official performance and avoided every judgment about the work of the past few years. However, he left no doubt that a lot has to change: “It is clear to me which situation the club comes from. I can promise the Schalke fans that we want to develop a new dynamic, a new cooperation.”
The 42-year-old has not escaped that the coaching chair on Schalke is one of the hotter in German professional football: After the Vice Championship 2018, the club separated from Domenico Tedesco in spring 2019. Since then, twelve different coaches have been in office, three of them – Huub Stevens, Matthias Kreutzer and Fimpel – even twice. The last Schalke coach to date, which worked for at least two years in this function at the club, was Mirko Slomka. He trained the Gelsenkircheners from January 2006 to April 2008.
Muslic wants to have brave and intensive football played
Should Muslic make this lack of continuity nervous, at least nothing could be felt at his first press conference. On the contrary, he joked that his chair in the press room actually felt as if many had been sitting on it and that he was also “quite uncomfortable”.
The size of the challenge is as aware of the pressure, but: “We are in a performance industry, and this pressure situation is simply part of our job,” says Muslic. His goal is to introduce a “high-performance-mindset” on Schalke in daily work, and sports director Frank Baumann attested the necessary qualities for this: “He lives a maximum performance culture and also demands it.” At the same time, he can also inspire players.
When you come into contact with Schalke for the first time, you will notice how big the club is. Then you notice the force.
Miron Muslic
Muslic like Baumann gave a kind of promise on Friday football AB, to which the Schalke fans can adjust. “Aggressive”, “active”, “brave” and “intensive” the royal blue want to let the ball roll in the future. “This squad has the quality of implementing this idea. Everyone wants to actively play forward. We will also implement it,” said Muslic, convinced without knowing his final squad.
The fan culture and enthusiasm on Schalke have done Muslic. In order to get the fans after an inglorious season from which they adopted their team with mockery and ridicule to get back on board again: “Perform”. He wanted to bring the club forward with enthusiasm on all levels.
Our sources:
- Press conference for the encouragement of Miron Muslic as a new Schalke trainer
- News agency dpa
