Second division soccer team Hamburger SV has found a successor for Tim Walter. Steffen Baumgart was officially introduced as the new coach at HSV on Tuesday.
Baumgart made no secret of his joy when he was introduced at the Volksparkstadion: For him, HSV is a “special club” and he is very happy “to be here”. The 52-year-old also added: “I’m not here because I’m a fan.”
Because the Rostock native has a clear mission: he should lead the third-place team in the 2nd league back to the Bundesliga. The club initially did not provide any information about the term of the contract.
Baumgart at HSV: First introduction, then training
Baumgart, who most recently coached Bundesliga club 1. FC Köln, will lead the first training session on Sylvesterallee at 4 p.m.
On Sunday (1:30 p.m., in the NDR Livecenter) he will celebrate his debut on the sidelines of the traditional club von der Elbe in the home game against Elversberg.
Baumgart brings assistant coach Wagner with him
“I’m really looking forward to the big challenge. It starts immediately, I’ll work directly with the boys. The goal is clear, we don’t have to talk around it: promotion,” said Baumgart, who met Merlin Polzin, Sven Höh and Loic Fave will be available as an assistant coach. In addition, his long-time assistant coach Rene Wagner is coming to Hamburg.
There will be “no difference” between the individual coaches in the assistant coaching team, said Baumgart during his introduction.
Boldt: “Baumgart is known for his captivating style”
“Steffen Baumgart is known for his emotionally stirring style. It is important to maintain the fire that we have ignited and to continue our path in a targeted manner,” said sports director Jonas Boldt. He praised the fact that with Baumgart we could continue on the chosen path and that we didn’t have to make a “180 degree turn”.
HSV for Baumgart der “Childhood club”
Baumgart himself praised the work previously done. The 52-year-old knows how to lead a team upwards: with SC Paderborn he once managed to move through from the 3rd division to the Bundesliga. The former striker recently left Cologne by mutual consent after two and a half years; the decision was made shortly before Christmas.
Since then, the ex-professional has been repeatedly associated with the Hamburg team, as the 52-year-old is considered a fan of the traditional club and once called it his “childhood club”: “I’ve always been a bit of an HSV fan since I was a child. That I became when the club was still big.”
The coach plays “99 percent with a back four”
His first task is to get the club back into the Bundesliga – he has twelve match days to do this. HSV is already four points behind a direct promotion place in the table and seven points behind leaders FC St. Pauli.
In the first two home games of the year against Karlsruher SC (3:4) and Hannover 96 (3:4), Hamburg also conceded a whopping eight goals. Walter’s successor Baumgart will have to focus primarily on defensive stability if he wants to return to the first division with the former Bundesliga dinosaur in the sixth attempt.
Baumgart calls for “high intensity and courageous approach”
He said he would play with a back four “99 percent of the time,” he said with a view to defense. He left it open what the previous formation – in Cologne he often played a 4-2-3-1 – might look like, but emphasized the high individual quality of the squad.
He wants to play very active football that is based on principles and fixed processes. In this context, Baumgart emphasized the distances between the players and called for “a lot of courageous starting, a high level of intensity and a lot of ball winning”.
“Represent the feeling that you are a top team.”
— The new HSV coach Steffen Baumgart
After the recent negative results – especially at home – the main thing is to give the team “the feeling that we are a top team”. To do this, he will “communicate a lot” with the team during training and try to build trust.
His predecessor Walter had missed promotion with HSV twice in relegation and was released on February 12th after a weak start to the second half of the season. During the recent 2-2 draw at Hansa Rostock, assistant coach Polzin sat on the bench as interim coach.
This topic in the program:
Hamburg Journal | 02/20/2024 | 19:30 o’clock
