Stuttgart appoint Schneider as new head coach

Stuttgart have announced the appointment of Thomas Schneider as the club’s new manager following the sacking of Bruno Labbadia.

The 40-year-old spent 12 years with Stuttgart during his playing days after graduating from the German club’s academy, and had been coaching the Under-17 team following his retirement.

But he has now been handed a promotion to first-team duties, after Labbadia paid the price for disappointing start to the new campaign.

“First of all I want to say thank you for the trust shown to me by the club,” Schneider said.

“It’s a huge challenge for me and I’m quite aware of it. But I’m really looking forward to this job and am very confident that I will be able to cope with the pressure together with my assistants Alfons (Higl) and Tomi (slav Maric).”

Stuttgart have lost all three of their opening Bundesliga fixtures and are currently only being kept off the bottom by newly-promoted Eintracht Braunschweig.

The Mercedes-Benz Arena outfit also trail 2-1 on aggregate to Rijeka in the sides’ UEFA Europa League play-off, having suffered defeat in the first leg in Croatia.

Fans will hope that Schneider, who enjoyed a solid career with the club as a player, can now turn things around.

The former defender won the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal with Stuttgart, and also helped them to the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup final where they suffered defeat at the hands of Chelsea.

Schneider’s first game in charge will be Thursday’s return leg against Rijeka.