“If you want to win over people with whom 85 percent of whom you cannot communicate directly, that will shape you,” says Roger Schmidt. And maybe that’s the sentence that explains a lot of what happened last in the life of the former Bayer Leverkusen coach. That there has been a change. That his new start at PSV Eindhoven, where Schmidt has been a coach since July, can now be a success. And that the cornerstone for this may be in China.
Roger Schmidt was a coach for the first division club Beijing Guoan for two years. It was an adventure when the 53-year-old moved to Asia in 2017. But it was also an escape.
When Schmidt left Europe, he was considered burned as a trainer. He is difficult, stubborn, provocative – also arrogant. Sometimes even aggressive. He had verbally clashed with colleagues like Julian Nagelsmann, with referee Felix Zwayer he had fought a legendary who-can-even-more stubborn duel when Zwayer sent him to the stands, but Schmidt refused to remain on the sidelines and therefore almost provoked a game break. Leverkusen released him in March 2017, although he had led the club three times into a European round of 16.
“Failed in itself,” wrote the “WAZ”. Schmidt had quickly lost it in his three years at Bayer with many reporters. He lost people rather than winning them over.
Scandal on the sidelines: In February 2016, Roger Schmidt (r.) Refused to accept a dismissal by referee Felix Zwayer
Photo: PATRIK STOLLARZ / AFP
In China it was very different, reports Pascal Dierkes, who at the time reported for the “Super Kicker” from the Chinese Super League: “The players praised him very much for his manner and how he dealt with them. Renato Augusto is among them it really blossomed, for example, and it is considered very sensitive, “says Dierkes.
Instead of a planned longer break, Schmidt switched to Beijing four months after he was kicked out in Leverkusen. “Back then I didn’t know much about the club, culture or football in China. I got involved and tried to shape the team,” Schmidt told SPIEGEL. And maybe this time also shaped him himself.
Schmidt’s clear job at Beijing Guoan was to win titles. How he did it (cup victory 2018) and how he failed because of it (dismissal 2019), he describes in “The Book of a Trainer”, which he wrote together with his long-time assistant Jörn Wolf. In the middle of the championship race 2019, the club in the person of the owner Zhou Jinhui put him out the door. The second in the table wanted to extend in the long term, Schmidt had enough of the family separation and hesitated. An affront to the building contractor Zhou, which resulted in the premature resignation. Schmidt cannot understand the dismissal to this day: “It was extremely surprising and very disappointing at the time,” he says.
While his expulsion from Bayer Leverkusen in March 2017 had little emotion, Schmidt went like a popular hero in China: Hundreds of fans came to the airport on a Sunday morning to give him an appropriate farewell. No matter of course in China and a recognition for the successful work. He has become more approachable in Asia, also “because the media pressure was not there,” says Dierkes.
Roger Schmidt: “Stay open to new impressions”
Photo: imago sportfotodienst / imago / Moritz Müller
Good reputation in the Netherlands
After a break of twelve months, Schmidt continues in the Netherlands. What at first glance looks like a step back into a second-rate European league could turn out to be a good decision for Schmidt.
Similar to Beijing Guoan, he takes up his position in Eindhoven at a convenient time: PSV is a big club that has just had a weak season under its belt. In 2018 PSV was still the champion, in 2020 they dropped to fourth place after the season ended after 26 match days. “The club obviously chose me very consciously,” says Schmidt.
It has a good reputation in the Netherlands. This has to do with a duel between Schmidt’s former Red Bull Salzburg club in the European Cup. 2014 clearly defeated Schmidt’s then elf Ajax. After the 3-0 win in Amsterdam in the sixteenth final of the Europa League, “De Telegraaf” wrote: “Salzburg is fooling Ajax”. “Red Bull leaves nothing of Ajax,” said De Volkskrant, while “Algemeen Dagblad” headlined: “Red Bull chased Ajax across the field.” Since then, Schmidt’s name has often come up when there is an important coaching position to be filled in Dutch football: When looking for a new coach at Ajax 2017, more Ajax fans voted for Schmidt than for Erik ten Hag, who then took over the club ( and led to the Champions League semi-final). He is said to have been in conversation even as a national coach. Hans van Breukelen, then the technical director of the association, tried to get Schmidt to do so, former international Wim Kieft reported in a column.
At PSV, Schmidt can feed on the transfer summer 2019: Among other things, the departures from Steven Bergwijn (Tottenham Hotspur) and Hirving Lozano (SSC Napoli) gave the club a transfer surplus of more than 60 million euros. What should have been planned as a full cash register for new players when the contract was signed in March 2020 is now considered a cushion for the losses from the Corona period. Either way: PSV is well positioned for the coming season.
Schmidt used to be a pressing dogmatist. His teams always acted the same: they ran aggressively at the opponent, chased the ball and switched quickly. But that has also changed, and that could help Schmidt at PSV even without strong access and with a team that was not optimally designed for his desired 4-4-2 system: In Beijing, he learned to be more pragmatic. There he had to cope “with an enormous gap from very strong foreign world-class players to young Chinese players”, as he says today. The climatic conditions and sometimes multi-day arrivals did the rest: Schmidt adapted his tactics to the team, not the team’s tactics. “His game system in Beijing was more balanced. He didn’t let the blistering presses play there as he did in Leverkusen,” said China expert Dierkes.
A lot of talent in the team
With a 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-2-1, he set a starting record in the Chinese Super League with ten wins in 2019, although he allowed his team atypical breaks in the press game. “Get involved and develop a feeling for the circumstances,” says Schmidt. “You have to remain open to new impressions, to reinvent yourself again and again, to give the players what they need and also take the squad structure into account.”
Schmidt’s new club has a lot of talent that can be used to attract people. With 24-year-old Denzel Dumfries, he has the right-back of the Dutch national team in his team, center forward Donyell Malen (21) is to be the potential successor to Luis Suárez in the focus of FC Barcelona. And there is also Mohamed Ihattaren (18), who is currently the largest midfield talent in the Netherlands. It comes from the PSV youth, who also keep Milan van de Riet, who is hunted by top European clubs. The 17-year-old attacker will be trained in the upcoming season in the U18 by one of the many former professionals involved in the club. His name: Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Roger Schmidt is now in a place where there is enough football expertise.
