Official | Manuel Baum to return as Augsburg interim head coach for next three games | OneFootball

Following confirmation of head coach Sandro Wagner’s sacking earlier today, FC Augsburg have confirmed that one of their former head coaches will take over on an interim basis until the winter break. Manuel Baum will return to work the Bundesliga touchline for the first time in over five years. Baum will remain in charge of the team for a minimum of three fixtures. 

Baum’s last stint as a Bundesliga head coach – some may recall – came during Schalke 04’s disastrous 2020/21 relegation campaign. Baum was one of five coaches to lead the Königsblauen that season. After the sacking of David Wagner, Baum coached Schalke from matchday three through matchday 12 between September and December of 2020. 

Baum famously failed to win a single league fixture with Schalke during the infamous year in which the team chased Tasmania Berlin’s infamous record of 34 straight winless league fixtures. Despite the fact that Baum did lead Schalke to a victory over 1. FC Schweinfurt in the Pokal, his short tenure was remembered an an absolute catastrophe. 

Prior to coaching Schalke, Baum also coached at Wagner’s former club SpVgg Unterhaching. Baum coached Augsburg for just over two years between December 2016 and April 2019. He won just under 30 percent of his 86 matches in charge of the Fuggerstädter.

After the Schalke sacking, Baum’s next station in German football (taken up a little over just two years later) was in the RB Leipzig academy. He served as academy director and also coached one of the RB youth teams.

Baum was one of the casualties of Leipzig’s summer overhaul as the German Red Bulls failed to qualify for Europe for the first time in the top flight. He took up his new position as Augsburg developmental director on July 1st. 

GGFN | Peter Weis