Hertha Berlin appoint veteran Otto Rehhagel as coach

In a surprise move struggling German Bundesliga side Hertha BSC Berlin have appointed 73 year old Otto Rehhagel as their new head coach until the end of this season. Rehhagel's appointment follows the firing of Michael Skibbe last Sunday after only five matches in-charge. Under Skibbe the team from the capital had lost all their five matches and his signing had come after successful promotion coach Markus Babbel had been fired in December 2011 just before Christmas following differences with the club management.

It is the coaching appointment of the season then many had seen Rehhagel as a retired former coach, who now comes out of retirement to try and save his former club, then between 1963-66 Rehhagel had played 78 matches for Hertha. And just yesterday the Berlin side played their 1000th Bundesliga match and though playing a good game they lost 0-1 to champions Borussia Dortmund.

Rehhagel's appointment was confirmed by Director of Sports Michael Preetz before the Dortmund game on Saturday afternoon. Otto Rehhagel will be introduced to the media later today. Rehhagel returns to the Bundesliga after 11 years.

The respected Otto Rehhagel used to be called 'König Otto von Bremen' (King Otto of Bremen) and then nicknamed Rehakles during his tenure as national team coach of Greece.

Initially in his career at 1.FC Saarbrücken, Kickers Offenbach, Werder Bremen, Borussia Dortmund, Arminia Bielefeld and Fortuna Düsseldorf Rehhagel was a short-term coach, who wouldn't last too long. That changed in his second stint with Werder Bremen, where he would go on to coach the North Germans for 14 years before going to archrivals FC Bayern Munich, where he would only last about 10 months. Thereafter he would join 2.Bundesliga side 1.FC Kaiserlautern and go on to win the Bundesliga title the next season as the first-ever promoted club. After leaving Lautern, Rehhagel would go on to coach Greece. The biggest success of his nine year tenure would be winning Euro2004 as underdogs.