Background and succession
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FC St. Pauli apparently has clarity on the coaching question. As “Bild” first reported, Alexander Blessin will no longer be on the sidelines next season despite a contract that runs until 2027. The 53-year-old and the Hamburg team apparently did not agree on the future direction after relegation from the Bundesliga, the paper speculates. A short time later, further details came to light. And a successor should already be determined: Marcel Rapp.
Update 2:28 p.m.: The “Hamburger Abendblatt” also reported that Blessin’s departure from the brown-whites is certain. An official confirmation is still pending. Both sides are said to have tried to find an agreement until the end, but their ideas did not agree. As a result of an extensive season analysis, Blessin wanted a new squad capable of promotion, while the club demanded a 100 percent commitment from its trainer.
On Wednesday evening there was another lengthy exchange via video call between the Blessin side and FC St. Pauli, it is said. With the subsequent shared realization that we should go our separate ways in the future. The newspaper named Marcel Rapp (most recently Holstein Kiel), Christian Eichner (most recently Karlsruher SC), Horst Steffen (most recently Werder Bremen) and Mitch Kniat (most recently Arminia Bielefeld) as “natural” successor candidates. Rapp emerged as the favorite. The 47-year-old should therefore be introduced promptly. Kiel separated from his former promotion coach Rapp in February. He had been under contract with the Störchen since October 2021, making him the longest-serving coach in the 2nd Bundesliga behind Christian Eichner. Rapp was also considered a possible Eichner successor at Karlsruher SC.
FC St. Pauli would have gone to the 2nd league with Blessin
FCSP sports director Andreas Bornemann recently stated that there can only be a continuation with Blessin if the coach remains convinced of the path he has chosen. “It’s only possible with 100 percent conviction that we can get this done together. As far as the coach is concerned, it has to be clear in the next two or three days: Where are we going?” However, these few days turned into more than two weeks before a decision is now likely to be made.
Born in Stuttgart, Blessin came in 2024 – after returning to the upper house – as the successor to the whiz kid Fabian Hürzeler from Union SG, who moved to Brighton for a million-dollar fee, and achieved a points average of 0.95 in 74 games. In the first year he finished 14th in the table with St. Pauli. relegation, now we went back down to the second league as bottom.
When asked whether he and Blessin would approach the reconstruction one floor lower, President Oke Göttlich said in a Transfermarkt interview in mid-February: “That is not at all out of the question. All parties must always radiate full conviction and burn for the common, respective goal. That’s what we do. Overall, we live in reality and not in what-if questions.” It is currently unclear who could take over as the new coach at FCSP.
After the relegation, Blessin explained meaningfully according to “Mopo”: “Doing something like that for two years in a row takes energy. As nice as the job is, it’s just extremely painful.” In the days that follow, we will “get together when everything has let things sink in a little bit and then find solutions as to how to proceed.” This process took longer than expected for both parties.
This article first appeared on Transfermarkt at 12:24 p.m. and was subsequently updated.