In a shock move, Bundesliga heavyweights Schalke have appointed 31-year-old Italian businessman Domenico Tedesco as their new manager starting the upcoming 2017-18 season to replace the sacked Markus Weinzierl.
The Ruhr giants have not had a season they would’ve hoped for last season, finishing in 10th place with 43 points, a staggering 21 points adrift of the top four and the coveted Champions League spots. Needless to say, it was an unacceptable campaign for the Royal Blues and boss Weinzierl suffered the price of getting sacked at the end of the season.
Now, in a bid to inject youthful drive and innovative perspective to the team, the club have opted to appoint the relative greenhorn Tedesco as manager, after a successful stint as Erzebirge Aue manager last season, where he led the club to 2. Bundesliga survival.
“Domenico Tedesco may not have much experience in the professional game, but he has convinced us of how he intends to shape the sporting future of the club,” said the club’s sporting director Christian Heidel on their official website.
“The whole board and supervisory board at FC Schalke 04 support the decision,” the Schalke official added.
So who exactly is Tedesco?
A native of Rossano in Italy, Tedesco played as a semi-professional footballer with ASV Aichwald in the Kreisliga A, Germany’s eighth tier football competition; although his football experience ends there.
Tedesco was more of a scholar, finishing his vocational training as a wholesale merchant before finishing a bachelor’s degree in business engineering and a master’s degree in innovation management.
In terms of football management, the Italian has had experiences with Stuttgart as under-17s manager from 2013-2015 and as Hoffenheim under-19s manager from 2015 to 2016, before taking on the job as Erzebirge Aue manager last season.
While we all know what happened to the person who last time said “you can’t win anything with kids,” this time, it’s not about young footballers, it’s about young football managers. Of course, only time ca tell if Tedesco is up to the task.
Tedesco has a contract with Schalke as manager until 2019.