Sawt Falasteen - Coach Thioune tasked with saving battling Bremen

Bremen did not disclose the length of Thioune's contract, but German media reported that the coach's future will depend on whether Bremen manage to stay in the top flight.

The 51-year-old, who in 2017 became the first German-born Black manager in the country, has no top-flight experience but previously took Bundesliga 2 side Fortuna Duesseldorf to the cusp of promotion.

At the end of the 2023-24 season, Duesseldorf lost a two-legged playoff with first division Bochum on penalties. Had they won, they would have replaced Bochum in the Bundesliga.

Four-time German champions Bremen sacked previous manager Horst Steffen on Sunday, with the club sitting a point above the relegation placings after a 10-match winless run.

Thioune said he "could not correct in three days what hasn't gone optimally in the past three months".

"We demand to see energy released on the pitch and a team giving their all," he added.

"I am really looking forward to working with the team and I am convinced that we will succeed in achieving the club's goals."

Thioune previously coached Bremen's bitter northern rivals Hamburg but assured supporters that he had grown up in a Bremen-supporting household.

"My father was a huge Bremen fan," he said, adding that he remembered the "wonderful years" including the club's double-winning season in 2004.

Coming through a coaching course as a classmate of current Germany coach and friend Julian Nagelsmann, Thioune took Bremen for his first training session on Wednesday.

Thioune, whose father is Senegalese, became the first German-born Black manager in the country's professional football history when he took over at Osnabrueck in 2017.

T.Khatib--SF-PST