Soccer-German coach Schmidt named to take over at PSV Eindhoven

PSV Eindhoven have appointed German Roger Schmidt as their new coach on a two-year contract starting next season, the Eredivisie club announced in a statement https://www.psv.nl/english-psv/news/article/psv-appoint-roger-schmidt-as-new-head-coach.htm on Wednesday. The 52-year-old will take over from interim coach Ernest Faber, who will return to his role with the club's youth set-up. Faber replaced Marc van Bommel, who was sacked in mid-December after a series of poor results.

"Roger stood way up at the top of our list and we are extremely pleased he has chosen PSV," said technical director John de Jong, who is responsible for appointing coaches. Schmidt last worked in China where he was sacked in mid-2019 by Beijing Guoan, but made his name at Salzburg and Bayer Leverkusen.

Over the last few months, Schmidt has been watching PSV in action and said on Wednesday: "Nothing was leaked which I think says a lot about the way PSV deal. For me that sort of confidence is a good basis to work here." PSV have had a poor season by recent standards and are in fourth place in the league, seven points off leaders Ajax Amsterdam.

PSV also lost in the Champions League preliminary round and did not advance past the Europa League group phase.