Enrico "Enno" Maassen has taken over the coaching legacy of Peter Zeidler, who moved to Bochum in the Bundesliga, at FC St. Gallen. The 40-year-old North German can fall back on proven successors at FCSG.
The expectation for the heir to Peter Zeidler, who was successful at St. Gallen for six years, is that he should contribute to the club's management in a similar way to his predecessor and continue to play attractive attacking football with plenty of power and pressing. Tactically, the team should become more variable under Maassen. The aim is to qualify for another European competition.
"I'm keen on my new job and already felt a lot of trust from the first contact. We have many congruent values and goals," said Maassen during his introduction. "After my experience at Augsburg in the Bundesliga and in Dortmund's youth academy, I'm moving to a smaller league, but to a stable environment and also to a football-loving region."
Just one week after Zeidler's departure, Maassen and his new staff, which previously only included goalkeeping coach Stefano Razzetti, were enthroned. "We only had initial contact after the end of the season. But then everything quickly fell into place," reveals the new coach. "I found an energetic club that made my well-considered move abroad easy." The fact that the player axis has been kept together should also make his work easier.
Maassen is also approachable
Under Zeidler and President Matthias Hüppi, the traditional club in eastern Switzerland has become a club you can get to know: down-to-earth, transparent, close to the public. "I'm also a person you can get to know and a family man," says Maassen, knowing that FC St. Gallen is a big family with a large catchment area.
Those responsible for sport around Hüppi and Head of Sport Roger Stilz have succeeded in retaining the proven pillars of the club and extending contracts. These include goalkeeper and crowd favorite Lawrence Ati Zigi and the talented home-grown talent Christian Witzig. Goalgetter Chadrac Akolo and captain Lukas Görtler, who was courted by Nuremberg, have also stayed, which is probably also due to the departure of Zeidler and the new flexibility in tactics under the new coach. In addition, the talented Serbian center forward Jovan Milosevic could be loaned out from Stuttgart, and the 18-year-old Corsin Konietzke from Graubünden, a graduate of the club's own academy, was signed to a four-year professional contract.
Still missing a striker
St. Gallen only had two significant departures to report: On-loan Italian Mattia Zanotti moved from Inter to Lugano, and Julian von Moos went to Servette on a free transfer. New signings include defenders Konrad Faber from Jahn Regensburg and Stephan Ambrosius from Hamburger SV as well as 20-year-old Cameroonian defensive all-rounder Noah Yannick. The only thing missing is an additional striker with goal threat. The test matches have shown that.
St. Gallen impressed twice in these: against Universitatea Craiova (2:1) and last Saturday in Vaduz (1:0). But not a week earlier in the embarrassing 1:3 at Promotion League team Rapperswil-Jona. If they can find a financially viable striker, FCSG can continue to compete at the top of the domestic league and confidently enter the European Cup qualifiers for the Conference League.
