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The new head coach of the club is Dutchman Huub Stevens, who replaced the dismissed Thomas Doll on Friday.
The coach of the Hamburg club, currently occupying the last, 18th place in the Bundesliga, also applied for the position and was dismissed by Bayern's Felix Magath on Wednesday, but he rejected the opportunity out of respect for his colleague.
The official website of the German club states that in order to sign a contract with Hamburg until June 2008, H. Stevens will leave his current club Roda Kerkrade.
T. Doll was dismissed on Thursday, as his team has only won one game out of 19 so far and risks relegation to the second Bundesliga. By the way, Hamburg is the only team that has never been relegated from the Bundesliga since its inception.
F. Magath, who coached Hamburg from 1995 to 1997, refused to return to the club for ethical reasons and stated that Hamburg must stick to H. Stevens' candidacy.
The 53-year-old Dutch specialist, who coaches Schalke in Gelsenkirchen, won the UEFA Cup in 1997, and in his career, he has also coached Berlin's Hertha and Köln teams.
H. Stevens stated that he is looking forward to this new challenge and is convinced that the team can climb out of the relegation zone.
"By bringing in Huub Stevens, we have acquired an experienced specialist who knows the Bundesliga well," said Hamburg president Bernd Hoffmann. - "We are confident that he will help the team rise from the bottom of the table."
Former Bayern coach F. Magath said he thought it would be logical to return to the club he won European trophies as a player and coached but acknowledged that Hamburg had already agreed with H. Stevens, so he did not want to ruin the deal.
"My professional ethics do not allow me to take a job from a colleague," F. Magath told the Hamburger newspaper "Abendblatt" in an interview, which should be published on Saturday. - "H. Stevens is the right person for this job, and he will save Hamburg from relegation to a lower league."
