Old and new coach Pal Dardai
Photo: AXEL SCHMIDT / REUTERS
Pal Dardai will be head coach of Hertha BSC again.
The 44-year-old will succeed Bruno Labbadia and will receive a contract until the end of June 2022, as the Bundesliga club announced.
At his side, there is also an old Herthaner, assistant Andreas "Zecke" Neuendorf.
Dardai will be the successor to Labbadia, from which the club had separated on Sunday in view of the sporting decline of the previous weeks.
Sports director Michael Preetz also had to leave because of this.
For Dardai, it's a return to the post of head coach.
The 44-year-old Hungarian worked as the chief coach at Hertha from February 2015 to the end of June 2019.
Then the club separated from the fan-favorite Dardai without any real need and replaced him with the inexperienced Ante Covic.
As a player he had worked for the pros for 14 years.
Relegation is the goal
Neuendorf had hired several times as a player at Hertha.
The Berliner ended his career in summer 2014.
A year later he started working as a junior coach at Hertha.
With Dardai and Neuendorf, three former Hertha players are now in crucial sporting positions: After Preetz separated as sports director, Arne Friedrich was entrusted with his duties as sports director on Sunday.
The now 41-year-old former international played 281 games for Hertha.
For the trio, it's all about keeping the class.
Despite numerous investments in the squad, the club is 14th after 18 games with 17 points and lags far behind its own claims.
The season started with the ambition to play a European Cup place.
Icon: The mirror
aha / dpa