The first training session under Schalke’s new coach Kees van Wonderen brought familiar faces back to the pitch.

There it was, the big day of the new beginning: Kees van Wonderen has taken up the work after his announcement as the new coach of FC Schalke 04. At 10:35 a.m. on Monday morning, the Dutchman entered the training ground and gathered the S04 professionals around him.

In contrast to the weeks under interim coach Jakob Fimpel, however, the picture on the pitch has changed: While Fimpel drastically reduced the squad in order to fully concentrate on the upcoming tasks, van Wonderen now also asked Steve Noode, Mauro Zalazar, Peter Remmert and Aris Bayindir, who had been sent to the U23 team by Fimpel, to return to the professional training session.

However, defender Ibrahima Cissé, who is on an international tour with Mali, was not present. Fellow countryman Moussa Sylla was not nominated. Meanwhile, defender Taylan Bulut skipped the trip to the four-nation tournament in Bucharest with the German U19 national team in order not to miss training with the new coach.

Ilyes Hamache (ill) missed the first training session under 55-year-old van Wonderen. Goalkeeper Justin Heekeren and offensive player Christopher Antwi-Adjei trained individually. Both are ailing and will undergo further tests. Janik Bachmann, Felipe Sánchez, Paul Seguin and Adrian Gantenbein, who have been ailing recently, are also back.

With Schalke’s team, which is in 13th place with eight points after eight matchdays, van Wonderen now has two weeks to prepare for his competitive debut on October 19 at Hannover 96 due to the international match period. “I can’t say right now that everything will be ready in three weeks and then it will work out. Maybe we need more time, maybe it will happen faster. We never know, we can’t predict that,” said van Wonderen.

The Dutchman, who played as a defender primarily for Feyenoord Rotterdam, had already watched the 2-2 draw against Hertha BSC on Saturday in the stadium – in the executive box of the Gelsenkircheners. So far, the Dutchman has been most successful in the youth sector – as in 2018, when he won the European Championship with the Oranje U18s. He has only been on the sidelines in club football since 2020 – initially with Go Ahead Eagles from Deventer, then with SC Heerenveen.