At his own request
Sports director Uwe Stöver will not extend his contract with Holstein Kiel, which expires on June 30, 2024, and will therefore leave the second division club for the second time after 2016. The contract with head coach Marcel Rapp, which was also ending, was extended until 2026, as the “Storks” announced on Wednesday.
“After a long period of careful consideration, I decided to end my work at Holstein Kiel in the summer after a total of around five and a half years,” said Stöver, who began his second term with the North Germans in October 2019. He was in office at the fjord as managing director from January to May 2016.
Stöver experienced a great, formative but also intense time in Kiel, “in which many small and some big challenges had to be overcome and still are.” He cited the search for a coach after the departure of home-grown Ole Werner, the pandemic and the squad change in 2023 as examples , in which he had to replace 14 departures and brought in current top performers such as BVB loanee Tom Rothe (18) and attacker Shuto Machino (24).
Lee, Serra & Co.: The most valuable departures from Holstein Kiel
The 56-year-old from Wuppertal continued: “We have always mastered these tasks together as a great team, so that in a few months I will look back with pride and gratitude. Now it is important to continue to contest this still young season with all the meticulousness and concentration in order to be able to say ‘Kiel ahoy’ with the best possible placement and a sporting area that is well positioned for the future.”
The KSV regrets the departure, but thanked Stöver for communicating his decision early. “Our task will now be to approach the search for a successor calmly and objectively and with the help of Uwe Stöver’s support and expertise in order to ensure a noiseless and seamless transition at the end of the season. And we as the entire supervisory board would like to thank him for his commitment and successful work,” said the chairman of the supervisory board, Dr. Stefan Tholund.
Uwe Stöver and Wolfgang Schwenke in an interview about Holstein Kiel’s development
Rapp extends his contract with Holstein Kiel: Wants to help develop KSV in the “medium to long term”.
Coach Rapp, who was brought in by Stöver in autumn 2021, has now committed himself to the “Storks” until 2026. His current sports director said about the extension: “Marcel Rapp has a clear idea about football and, together with his entire team, he implements it with a lot of commitment and passion. He also identifies 100 percent with the club and our sporting path. We are therefore very pleased to have clarified Marcel’s contract extension at this point in the season.”
Rapp had previously looked after the U19s of TSG Hoffenheim and the Bundesliga club on an interim basis, at least temporarily. Since then, he has scored an average of 1.44 points in 71 games in Kiel and, despite the upheaval in the 2nd Bundesliga, his team is currently in fourth place (16 points from nine games).
“I am very keen to continue shaping the sporting path initiated by the squad change in the summer together with my great team and thus contribute to the development of this club in the medium to long term,” said Rapp. “We, my family and I, feel very comfortable here in Kiel, so the decision wasn’t difficult for me. I would like to take this opportunity to thank those responsible for the trust they have placed in me and look forward to an exciting time.”
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