Having won the Bundesliga title with Wolfsburg last season, Felix Magath will now try to work the same magic on Schalke 04 when the season begins today.
The 56-year-old, who won two league titles with Bayern Munich before he was sacked in February 2007, hardly put a foot wrong last season as the side he built swept the league.
While Bayern Munich faltered and eventually sacked former Germany coach Jurgen Klinsmann in April, Wolfsburg picked up their first league crown in May, only for Magath to then quit to become coach and team manager at Schalke.
The Royal Blues spent most of last season in disarray and Magath’s first job has to be to build some team spirit and plug the gaps in defense before their first league game against newly promoted Nuremburg tomorrow.
His replacement at Wolfsburg, Armin Veh, won the league title with Stuttgart in 2007 and his first game in charge is against his former club in the season’s opening game.
Veh is fortunate Wolfsburg have managed to keep hold of key strikers Edwin Dzeko and Brazilian Grafite, despite interest from some of Europe’s top clubs, while on Wednesday they were boosted as Bosnia international midfielder Zvjezdan Misimovic extended his contract until 2013.
Between them Dzeko and Grafite netted 54 league goals last season, but it remains to be seen if the team can repeat their surprise success or handle the step up to the Champions League, where they will make their debut.
“The team is very motivated. My initial impressions from the first training camp have absolutely been confirmed,” said Veh, whose attacking options have been further boosted by the arrival of Nigeria striker Obafemi Martins from Newcastle United.
The man with the highest-profile job in German league soccer is Dutchman Louis van Gaal, who arrives as Bayern Munich coach to try to succeed where Klinsmann failed.
Previous achievements count for nothing at success-greedy Bayern, where domestic honors are demanded and Champions League success is expected.
The 57-year-old van Gaal has inherited an embarrassment of riches in attack, with Bayern’s squad containing Germany strikers Mario Gomez and Miroslav Klose, as well as Italian World Cup winner Luca Toni and Croatia’s Ivica Olic.
Promising youngster Thomas Mueller makes it five forwards pushing for two places in van Gaal’s starting line-up and the straight-taking former Netherlands coach is expected to stamp his mark on the side.
Club president and German soccer legend Franz Beckenbauer is in no doubt about the quality of the present squad.
“This is the best ever Bayern side,” The Kaiser proudly declared. “We want to become German champions and, at the very least, reach the Champions League quarter-finals, if not the semis.”
German national coach Joachim Loew does not share Beckenbauer’s optimism.
“It [the league title] will not be a formality,” Loew said. “There are several sides who have made progress in the past few years in terms of consistency and quality. Maybe there will be another surprise winner, such as Stuttgart and Wolfsburg.”
The Dutchman’s first league game in charge is against last season’s dark horses Hoffenheim, who led the league on their debut Bundesliga season at Christmas, before falling off the pace.
Of the three sides coming up — Nuremberg, Freiburg and Mainz — Nuremberg can be expected to handle the move up after only two seasons out of Germany’s top flight.
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