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Cologne appoint Soldo to replace Daum
Jun 12, 2009, 9:28 GMT
Cologne - Cologne have appointed former Croatia international Zvonimir Soldo as coach to succeed Christoph Daum, the German Bundesliga club said on Friday.
Soldo, 41, who was due to be formally presented later in the day, has been given a two-year contract until June 30, 2011.
The former VfB Stuttgart defender takes over from Daum who used an option in his contract to leave the club at the beginning of the month and is expected to become coach of Turkish side Fenerbahce.
Soldo will be assisted by Michael Henke, 52, who was chief scout and analyst at Bayern Munich.
Henke was a long-time assistant coach to Ottmar Hitzfeld at Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, and was briefly coach of Kaiserslautern in 2005.
Soldo has only brief coaching experience after ending his playing career in 2006 following 10 years and 301 Bundesliga games for Stuttgart and 61 caps for Croatia.
He was under-19 coach at Dinamo Zagreb and then took over the first team at the beginning of 2008, leading it to the league and cup double before stepping down.
Cologne finished 12th last season after promotion the previous term and Soldo is expected to inherit a largely unchanged squad.
New arrivals, however, include Germany striker Lukas Podolski, rejoining his old team from Bayern Munich, and Karlsruhe striker Sebastian Freis.
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