FC Schalke 04 will start the upcoming second division season with a new captain. Danny Latza has voluntarily resigned from his post.

Danny Latza has already completed many training camps in his long professional life – whether he played in Bochum, in Mainz or now with his youth club FC Schalke 04.

But the 33-year-old midfielder will not soon forget this camp in Mittersill in July 2023. On Sunday evening, after dinner and a video analysis, he told his teammates that he was stepping down as captain with immediate effect.

Coach Thomas Reis and sports director André Hechelmann already knew at that point. “This decision was not easy for me. Everyone knows what the club means to me and what an honour it was for me to have been captain of one of the biggest clubs in Europe,” said Latza about his decision. He gave his reasons as follows: “I felt that this impulse would be good for the team.”

Two years ago, Latza had also been appointed captain by former coach Dimitrios Grammozis in Mittersill after relegation. Grammozis’ successors Mike Büskens and Frank Kramer also held on to Latza. He was rarely able to fulfil sporting expectations for various reasons.

In the 2021/22 promotion season he was frequently injured, and in the 2022/23 relegation season he could not get past Alex Kral and Tom Krauß in defensive midfield. Out of a possible 68 league games in that time, he only played 35 (2 goals), only 17 of which were from the start.

Coach Reis expressed respect for Latza’s decision. “Danny has a keen sense of the situation. With this move, he wants to prevent the captaincy issue from taking too much public focus away from our goals. To prevent that, he is putting his ego aside and the good of the team first. That’s how a real captain acts. He will continue to be an important contact for the players and me on and off the pitch, no doubt about it. “

Reis did not say anything about his successor, not even about the time of the announcement – possibly still in Mittersill, possibly later. The favourites are the veterans Ralf Fährmann and Simon Terodde, with Ron Schallenberg as an outsider. Even a surprise – Cedric Brunner, Dominick Drexler – is not inconceivable.

Like Reis, sporting director Hechelmann stressed that Latza would play an important role. “I am very impressed by Danny’s decision. For him, who was born in Gelsenkirchen and went through the Knappenschmiede, it was incredibly emotional to lead Schalke onto the field as captain. “