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Bo Henriksen, here still on the sidelines in Zurich, takes over the coaching position in Mainz
Photo: Pius Koller / IMAGO
The Dane Bo Henriksen is the new coach of the Bundesliga club FSV Mainz 05, which is in serious danger of relegation. The 49-year-old coached FC Zurich until last weekend. Henriksen succeeds Jan Siewert at FSV, who was dismissed on Monday. Mainz have agreed on a contract with Henriksen until 2026.
Henriksen started his coaching career in Denmark at lower-class clubs. In the 2021/2022 season he became Danish runner-up and cup winner with FC Midtjylland.
In October 2022, Henriksen took over FC Zurich, then Swiss champions from the previous year, in last place in the Super League. He ensured that the team stayed in the league and even led them back to the top of the table. Zurich is currently in third place. However, Henriksen announced last week that he would not be extending his contract, which expires at the end of the season. Now Henriksen left Zurich early.
“We have looked intensively at our current situation and analyzed which type of coach with which footballing approach suits us in this difficult sporting situation,” said Mainz sports director Christian Heidel: “This led us to Bo Henriksen, a coach who He has managed repeatedly in his career and under very different conditions to form teams and play football that is equally pragmatic, but also courageous and ultimately successful.
Mainz is in second-to-last place in the Bundesliga with twelve points, the gap to 1. FC Köln in the relegation place is four points, Union Berlin in 15th place is already nine points away. Henriksen will be challenged directly in the coming weeks; in addition to the home games against Augsburg and Mönchengladbach, there are away games against Leverkusen and FC Bayern.
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