After a weak start to the season, Tobias Schweinsteiger has steered VfL Osnabrück back onto the road to success. The reward: a new long-term contract.

That VfL Osnabrück would have a good chance of promotion to the 3rd Division at this point in time could not have been foreseen at the end of last year.

After a weak start to the season, the current fourth-placed team was in the bottom half of the table, but thanks to only one defeat in the last 14 games, it is now in the relegation zone and only two points behind a direct promotion spot.

Closely linked to the success trend: coach Tobias Schweinsteiger, who has now signed a new, “long-term” contract at Bremer Brücke. Schweinsteiger has been on the sidelines since the seventh matchday. After a bumpy start, things went steeply uphill for Osnabrück under his leadership.

“Tobias Schweinsteiger has completely convinced everyone at the club as a personality and as a coach with a high level of expertise,” sports director Amir Shapourzadeh was quoted as saying about the contract extension announced on Thursday. “He has stabilised the team in a difficult phase, impressively led it back to success and made numerous players individually better. The long-term contract extension is a clear signal that we want to continue to develop the club together with him in the coming years, because Tobias fits VfL and Bremer Brücke 100 per cent in every respect. “

For the 41-year-old, who ended his active career in 2015 with Bayern Munich’s reserve team, Osnabrück is his first professional station as head coach. Previously, he worked as a co-coach at 1. FC Nürnberg, Hamburger SV and FC Bayern’s youth team, among others.

“I feel very comfortable at VfL Osnabrück and in the region. I enjoy working with my team, my staff and the leaders in the club extremely much and it is what I imagine in an ambitious and well-structured club,” says the coach about his extension.