It had been hinted at for a long time. It is now clear that Freiburg’s cult coach Christian Streich is quitting after the current season.
Christian Streich will not extend his contract with SC Freiburg again. After 12 and a half years, a chapter comes to an end, in nice continuity with the entire period before it: without arguments, without shaking the coaching chair, without dismissal.
“I’ve thought about it for a long time and had a lot of conversations, but I think that after 29 years, now is the right time to make room for new energies, new people and new opportunities. It was already very important to me in the past that I… “Don’t miss the moment when I think it’s right to leave,” Christian Streich said in a statement from his club. “I had hundreds of extraordinary experiences during my time at the sports club. This club is my life and I am grateful for the great love and support that I have received here.”
Sports director Jochen Saier: “The journey together is not over yet”
“We have been in an intensive, very trusting and emotional exchange of ideas with Christian over the past few weeks – at the end of which there is a decision that we regret, but can fully respect and understand. Christian’s work was and is as special as the joint decision-making process over the past twelve and a half years as head coach and a total of almost three decades of coaching for our SC.
However, the moment to finally acknowledge this very special time has not yet come, as the journey together does not end here and today. There is still too much to achieve together in the remaining eight Bundesliga games. The transparent exchange enabled us to start discussions at an early stage,” said sports director Jochen Saier.
Review: It was December 29th, 2011. The day Christian Streich stepped onto the big football stage for the first time. The long-time youth coach of SC Freiburg was introduced as the new head coach of the Bundesliga team. As the successor to the unsuccessful Markus Sorg, whose assistant coach he was previously. Streich was supposed to save what could hardly be saved, to save the then bottom of the table from relegation.
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Football | Bundesliga Christian Streich: He’ll be gone then!
Christian Streich will quit as coach of the SC Freiburg professional team at the end of the season. The time has now come, said the 58-year-old in a press release today. A tribute to Claus-Peter Hufer.
Mon.18.3.2024 7:30 p.m. SWR Aktuell Baden-Württemberg SWR BW
More than twelve years on the bench at SC Freiburg
Five months later, in mid-May 2012, the mission was surprisingly accomplished. SC Freiburg managed to stay in the league under novice coach Christian Streich. It was the beginning of a unique career. Over the next twelve years, the football teacher, who was born in Weil am Rhein, created a magnificent sporting achievement in Breisgau. Despite a temporary relegation in 2015, which was promptly corrected with direct promotion again. Streich turned the former relegation candidate into a team with which he reached the DFB Cup final and qualified for the Europa League twice.
The emotional highlight for Christian Streich and everyone involved was the “Berlin experience”, the enthusiasm surrounding the final game in the Olympic Stadium, which was unfortunately lost on penalties against Leipzig, including the reception after returning home in Freiburg.
The SC Freiburg under attack meant, above all, incredible team maturity and unity. In addition, the coach turned many young talents, preferably from Freiburg’s own football school, into seasoned Bundesliga professionals, some of whom even became national players. Oliver Baumann, Dennis Aogo, Matthias Ginter and Christian Günter are examples of this.
SC Freiburg has also developed enormously structurally during this time. The sports club now plays in the ultra-modern new Europa Park stadium, which is always well filled with around 35,000 fans, a temple of a very special kind. The membership boom also continues, with around 60,000 club members now keeping their fingers crossed for the sports club team .
Christian Streich – cult coach of the Bundesliga
During these years on the Freiburg bench, Christian Streich himself increasingly developed into a cult coach in the Bundesliga. A striking personality, honest and direct, funny and quick-witted. A human catcher with his humane, highly emotional nature, coupled with the friendly Alemannic dialect of the man from Markgräflerland. Butcher’s son and educator with a teaching degree in German, history and sport in Freiburg.
The former second division kicker’s diverse world of thoughts did not end between the two penalty areas. The soon-to-be 59-year-old always took a clear stance on all socio-political issues. Finally, once again and very clearly against right-wing extremism, racism and intolerance. There was a lot of recognition for this, but also criticism.
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Last game on May 18th at Union Berlin
Now an unforgettable coaching era is coming to an end at SC Freiburg with Christian Streich. The second after Volker Finke, who once led the sports club into the Bundesliga and remained coach for 16 years. In two months, on May 18th, the 34th matchday of the Bundesliga season, Christian Streich will sit on the Freiburg bench for the last time in the sports club’s away game at Union Berlin. Then the Bundesliga coach, who is by far the longest-serving coach in the Bundesliga, will say goodbye and leave a big gap in every respect.