The Football Association of Selangor (FAS) today announced Karsten Neitzel as the new head coach of the Red Giants, replacing B. Sathiananthan who left the position last September.

The 52-year-old German arrived safely in Malaysia in mid-October and completed the quarantine process set by the Malaysian Ministry of Health (KKM) early last week.

Karsten, who previously played for Freiburg in the German top league, the Bundesliga, also became the club's assistant head coach after he ended his career as a professional footballer.

Prior to arriving at the FAS Training Center, he was manager of German Division 4 club RW Essen before holding the position of advisor to SW Essen, a former DFB-Pokal winner in Germany for a season. He also served as an assistant head coach in the Japanese League (JLeague) with the Urawa Reds.

However, his 10 years of experience in coaching in Germany, especially in managing the Bochum VFL team, SV Elversberg and as well as leading Holstein Kiel to be promoted to the 2nd division of the German league has made Selangor Technical Director, Michael Feichtenbeiner feel that Karsten is the right individual to lead Selangor to a higher level.

“First is, I know him (Karsten) well because he used to be my player. He was a very good midfielder and played in my team in the second division before playing in the Bundesliga later. He was a very powerful player.”

“Thus, it’s always good if we (FAS Management) and me as the technical director to appoint somebody I know personally as the head coach.”

“He has a good attitude, he works hard and always wanted to prove himself in Asia. So I think he will be very motivated to coach in Malaysia for Selangor.”

Michael also added that Karsten is also capable of bringing up new talents to play for the Selangor main squad.

“It’s important to our project to produce our own players to play in the Super League. So, we need a head coach who is open to use young players. Sometimes, it’s not easy to play young boys because they tend to make mistakes, but Karsten is a brave coach. If he sees some qualities and abilities in the young boys, he will give them a chance.”

“We want to build the best team in Malaysia, and we need to do it in our very own way to do that. We may not be able to attract the best individual players to play for Selangor, but we can try building the best team via our gameplay and development program.”

Speaking to the FAS Media, Karsten acknowledged that it was important to reinstall the confidence of the Red Giants fans.

“It’s good to convince people around the club via winning games, for sure. In the last few weeks, the team started to give that impression in a good way.”

“I have good feelings (with the teams). I have seen a lot of games for the first team and I think we have a team with good quality.”

Karsten also believes in young talents and will give them equal chance and opportunities as their seniors.

“I’ve seen some games from the second team. They have good potential. For example Aliff (Haiqal), (Ahmad) Zikri, Afro (Nazeem), and (Ahmad) Danial as the striker. They are good players, but I don’t want to give them so much pressure. I will support all the young players as much as their seniors.”

He also said that he was looking forward to meeting Selangor supporters and had the opportunity to give the following message:

“Like the fans, I’m also hungry for success. I want to win every game every weekend with my team, my staff, and the supporters. But we need to do it step by step. We need to improve the way we play, we need to improve small things because small things can make a big difference.”

“The fans have to know what we are doing and need to understand our idea. They must have a feeling that we know they are always behind us and I think a good relationship between the team, the club, and the supporters.”

The FA Selangor welcomes Coach Karsten and hopes he will bring the Red Giants to a higher level.

das Willkommen, Karsten Neitzel!