OFFICIAL: Schalke appoint David Wagner as new coach with a three-year contract

The former Terriers boss will take over hoping to lead the club back toward the top half of the table after a disastrous 2018-19 campaign

Schalke have announced former Huddersfield manager David Wagner as their next head coach, effective for the 2019-20 season.

Wagner, who has signed a three-year contract with the Bundesliga side, was available after departing the Terriers in January by mutual consent with the club rock-bottom of the Premier League. 

Sporting director Jochen Schneider said in a statement: "We are delighted to have hired a coach in David Wagner who perfectly fits in with our required profile: someone whose footballing philosophy has his team take the initiative, with intensity and as much speed as possible, but also someone who can build a team with his personality and improve players individually."

"I know from my own best experience as a player the strength that Schalke 04 can develop when the team, club and fans pull together," Wagner said in a statement.

"To dive into this world again and help to change the current situation for the better – that is the biggest motivation for me to return to the Bundesliga."

Wagner played for Schalke from 1995-97, making 29 appearances for the club and scoring two goals.

A former Germany youth international who featured for the United States at the senior level, Wagner broke into with coaching with Hoffenheim's youth ranks but made a name for himself at Borussia Dortmund under Jurgen Klopp, leading the club's reserve side from 2011-15.

He would parlay that into a successful tenure with Huddersfield, taking over the Terriers in November 2015 and guiding them to the Premier League via the play-offs just a season later.

Despite expectations of relegation in his first season in the top-flight, Wagner guided the team to survival in the 2017-18 season, finishing 16th and four points above the drop zone.