Long list of candidates

How Sturm’s search for the “new Schicker” is going

Who will succeed Andi Schicker and work with Christian Ilzer at Sturm?

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

The deal with Sturm's successful manager Andreas Schicker and TSG Hoffenheim should be announced this week - if the clubs reach a final agreement. Graz is already feverishly searching for a successor. Schicker helped and is even helping.

Big Champions League summit against Salzburg recently in Liebenau - and one man was in the spotlight! What is Andreas Schicker doing? When will the master builder of Sturm's success move to Hoffenheim? Before the gala against Salzburg, everyone at Sturm was relatively tight-lipped on the subject. However, over a well-earned winner's beer, the outgoing sporting director then let us in on the secret.

 "Hoffenheim and I are in agreement," the 38-year-old revealed. However, the clubs still have to clarify the final details, "but the deal should go through in the course of the week," said the man from Oberaich, who has never made a secret of his desire to move. Now the timing is right for the German Bundesliga club - as it was for Schicker at Sturm. "The squad is in place, a successor will find an intact team here," says Schicker, who, according to Krone research, is signing a highly remunerated, multi-year contract. There is no exit clause for Schicker, so Sturm will have to pay a transfer fee. And one of such high dimensions that has allegedly never been seen before in the domestic Bundesliga.

Sturm and Malick Yalcouye gave the sporting director a perfect farewell.

(Bild: Pail Sepp/Sepp Pail)

Experienced professional
Sturm's technical director Paul Pajduch could also move to Germany with Schicker. However, the timing of the transfer is a question of negotiations - namely how quickly Sturm can find a replacement. An internal replacement is not an issue. Sturm has now reached an international level that cannot be a playground for "apprentices". Therefore, an experienced professional from abroad, who would be available immediately, should follow the successful sporting director. The list of suitable candidates available to the management around president Christian Jauk is surprisingly long.

Schicker himself is said to have been involved in the matter of the replacement and has repeatedly suggested candidates. On Sunday, however, he watched the gala against Salzburg from the stands as usual, soaking up the atmosphere and the fans' chants for him on the pitch like a sponge. Wistfulness? "It's all happened so quickly since the double, I haven't had time to realize everything. You only realize that when you look back."