"The start of a new chapter"

In partnership with

RB Leipzig

·21. Mai 2025

"The start of a new chapter"

Marcel Schäfer is an extremely busy man at the moment. The club's board member for sport is currently planning the RBL squad for next season, as well as looking for a new head coach. He will also be part of the group that heads to Brazil in two days, the first trip by a Bundesliga club to the South American country in over 25 years.

Schäfer still found time to speak to us about all of these things - we have summarised his most important quotes below.

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Marcel Schäfer on the search for a new coach...

"We have been speaking to people for a number of weeks and have had some really good conversations. We have a clear idea of what kind of attributes we want our future head coach to have. We are looking for a coach that can fully identify with our club and our philosophy. This last season saw us struggle to do something that RB Leipzig were known for over many years - we want to play exciting football again. To do that, we need to play at a high intensity, both with and without the ball. Teams need to find it really difficult to play against us again. We can't give our opponents any time to breathe, we want to press them high up the pitch and play an attractive brand of attacking football. Our new coach needs to embody that."

…the summer transfer window

"I am reading the word transition a lot at the moment, but I think our current phase is more like the start of a new chapter. We will change things and build a team with a new spirit. We want next season to go differently to the one that has just ended. Our squad needs to have more quality and more depth. Our aim is to have a team that totally identifies with our club and our ambitions. We want a tight-knit group and we want to stand for togetherness and resilience. We want to have players in our squad that are grateful to be at RB Leipzig - and not the other way around. RB Leipzig isn't a stepping stone. Players can develop here over the years, but their first thought when they sign a contract here should not be about leaving again."

…missing out on European football

"During our all conversations so far - with both players and coaches - we have not been turned down just because we are not in Europe next season. RB Leipzig have developed an exceptional reputation over many years and we have shown on countless occasions what we can offer players. A season like the one just gone was well below our expectations and we are extremely disappointed with it, but it can happen in the long-term development of all clubs.I think our current situation also offers us a lot of chances. We will now make the necessary changes to our squad, the coaching team and backroom staff. Let's shake off the disappointment and start a new chapter. We should be motivated if people have started to write us off. When I read things like we didn't show enough desire - which is also mostly true - then we should use that as motivation. That is inexcusable as professional athletes. We also owe it to our fans, who supported us amazingly all season long. We always have to play with passion!

…the Brazil tour

"Everyone at the club has extremely positive memories of our American tour last year to New York and Miami. We therefore knew that we would do another trip this year to represent RB Leipzig, the Bundesliga and German football on a different continent.One advantage is definitely holding the tour after the end of the season. At the start of last season, a lot of players were only with us for the first time after EURO 2024 and we then had to integrate them into the group without practically any training. We now have the opportunity to have a longer pre-season and that will help us. Our new head coach will have plenty of time in pre-season and in training every week to build something new together with us here. We will use pre-season in the summer to make sure we are an extremely fit side going into the new season."

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