After twelve years, Christian Streich is leaving SC Freiburg at the end of the season. SWR Sport looks back on the highs and lows of the Streich era.
Before SC Freiburg’s game against 1. FC Heidenheim (1:1), SCF coach Christian Streich once again pulled off a classic “prank”. In the players’ tunnel, the coach went to assistant referee Michael Bacher and told him: “If something happens, they’ll come back for a moment, right? I have three yellow cards and next week is my last game.”
The background: If a coach receives four yellow cards, he will be suspended for one game. If Streich had seen his fourth yellow card in the game against the newcomer from referee Daniel Siebert, he would have missed the game on matchday 34 against Union Berlin – his last as SCF coach.
But because Streich pulled himself together and didn’t allow himself to be guilty of anything, he will be able to say goodbye to the Bundesliga stage in Berlin after twelve years as Freiburg head coach. SWR Sport looks back on twelve years with many ups and few downs.
Christian Streich takes over as head coach of SC Freiburg
January 21, 2012: After more than 16 years as a youth coach at SCF, the then assistant coach Christian Streich takes over as head coach of the Bundesliga club at the start of the second half of the season. The then head coach Marcus Sorg had previously been relieved of his duties after the club went into the winter break as bottom of the table.
It is the first time in his career that the former professional footballer has been the main coach of a club. In his first game as coach of SC Freiburg, Streich can look forward to a 1-0 win against FC Augsburg.
The second half of the season under Streich was extremely successful. The coach leads the team from 18th place to twelfth place, scores more than twice as many points as Sorg in the first half of the season and ensures that the club stays in the league on matchday 32.
Photo gallery
The SCF and Christian Streich – an era in pictures
Streich leads SC Freiburg to Europe
May 11, 2013: Few people expected this before the season. Within a season and a half, Christian Streich led SC Freiburg out of the relegation battle and into European business. As fifth in the table, the Breisgauer team qualified for the Europa League.
However, it ends there after the group phase. Behind FC Sevilla (Spain) and Slovan Liberec (Czech Republic), SC Freiburg finished third with six points and missed out on a place in the knockout rounds.
From Europe to the second league: SC Freiburg is relegated
May 23, 2015: After the great euphoria, things go downhill for Christian Streich and his team. Fifth place (2012/2013) was followed by 14th place the following season and relegation in 2015. SC Freiburg came 17th ahead of SC Paderborn and behind HSV and had to go to the second division.
It is the club’s fourth relegation from the Bundesliga. But SC Freiburg is sticking with Christian Streich as coach. He, in turn, repays the trust of those responsible in the following season.
SC Freiburg is promoted back to the 1st Bundesliga
May 15, 2016: SC Freiburg achieved direct promotion again under Christian Streich. Ahead of RB Leipzig and 1. FC Nürnberg, the sports club becomes second division champions with 72 points, despite a 1-2 defeat on the last matchday against Union Berlin.
In the following season, Streich led his team to seventh place. This means the club reaches Europa League qualification. There it ends in the third round against the Slovenian club NK Domžale. After a 1-0 first leg win, SC Freiburg were eliminated after a 0-2 second leg defeat.
The documentation: Christian Streich – End of an era
From May 19th in the ARD media library.
On June 1st at 7:15 p.m. on ARD Sportschau.
Streich’s SC Freiburg makes history
December 5, 2021: On the 14th matchday of the 2021/2022 season, Streich and SC Freiburg make history. SC won 6-0 in Mönchengladbach. To this day it is the highest victory in the club’s history.
At the end of the season, the club not only qualified for the Europa League again as sixth in the table, but also reached the final of the DFB Cup for the first time. In the penalty shootout, the Breisgauer team had to admit defeat to RB Lepizig. In the end it is 3:5.
In the Europa League, this time the route as group winner leads to the round of 16. But Streich’s team failed there against Juventus Turin. The SCF lost against the Old Lady 0:1 and 0:2 and was eliminated.
SC Freiburg is playing its best season
May 27, 2023: Almost two and a half months later, SC Freiburg ends the Bundesliga season in fifth place with 59 points. It is the best season in the club’s history and takes the sports club back into the Europa League.
As in the previous year, the SCF reached the round of 16 as second in Group A behind West Ham United, where they met the English Premier League club again. After a surprising 1-0 first-leg win in Freiburg, Christian Streich’s charges had to admit defeat 0-5 in the second leg.
Christian Streich announces his resignation
March 18, 2024: With the words “It is with a heavy heart that I would like to inform you that I will no longer be continuing my work as a coach at SC Freiburg in the summer,” Christian Streich announces that he will be leaving the club at the end of the season. After twelve years as head coach, Streich is calling it quits.
Just four days later, the club announced that it had found Streich’s successor in its former captain and current liaison coach Julian Schuster.
In the first game after Streich’s resignation, the SCF won the away game against Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-0. The emotional climax follows on May 11th. In the home game against Heidenheim, Streich says goodbye to the Freiburg fans and the fans to him. An era in Freiburg is ending.
Broadcast on Saturday, May 18, 2024, 2:00 p.m., Stadium, SWR1
