"Building stability and modernising structures"

A new era at Hertha BSC is beginning! As of Tuesday, Fredi Bobic has started his new role as managing director for sport at the club. The 49-year-old, who netted eight goals for the ‘Old Lady’ between 2003 and 2005, has been a Hertha member since 2006 and is thus returning to the Hertha family. On his first official day of work, the former Germany international introduced himself in a digital press conference at the Olympiapark. “I'm very happy to be sitting here. The talks were pleasant and productive, and characterised by great mutual respect. There are times in life where you have to make big decisions, and this was one of them. Everything just fits well. Now it’s a case of getting settled in as quickly as possible and getting started. I'm fired up and ready to get going!” said Bobic in his opening statement.

The former Frankfurt man, who oversaw Eintracht’s DFB-Pokal victory in 2018 amongst other achievements, also discussed working with Pál Dárdai and Arne Friedrich, who are both staying on at Hertha. “I’m delighted that Pál is staying on, as that was always what I wanted to happen. I'm also very happy that Arne has extended his contract. Arne is not only a club legend, but also an extremely ambitious and empathetic person. He’s a central figure at the club and I'm happy that we were able to convince him to shape the future of Hertha BSC with us!” Discussing the club’s sporting development, Bobic explained: “The priority is to achieve stability in sporting terms and to modernise our structures to make them competitive. In the future, we don’t want to be involved in another relegation battle. That’s something that we have to work hard to avoid. Consistency and continuity also play a key role. We are all ambitious and we want to become better together.”

Werner Gegenbauer and Dr. Torsten-Jörn Klein sat alongside the new managing director for sport at the club, who is taking the place of Michael Preetz. “It's a good day for Hertha BSC. I would like to warmly welcome our new managing director for sport, Fredi Bobic. It's no secret that he was our number 1 choice for this role. We're convinced he is the right person and can’t wait to get started together,” said Hertha’s president. Dr. Torsten-Jörn Klein was in agreement: “We didn’t have a long list of candidates or a big selection process. Fredi Bobic is well-known and someone we have a lot of respect for here. Appointing him was our desired solution from the start.”