Soccer News of Thursday, 11 December 2003

Source: GHP

Zumdick for Hamburg: Done Deal !

Hamburg SV have confirmed that the Ghana coach Ralf Zumdick and former VfL Bochum 1848 goalkeeper will be the club's new assistant coach working alongside Klaus Toppm?ller. He will begin his duties in January.

The announcement was made today, as the club disclosed it had signed Slovenian Under-21 international Miso Brecko from NK Šmartno on a two-year contract.

Zumdick set to quit Ghana

BBC -- Ralf Zumdick is unlikely to extend his stay as Ghana coach when his three month contract ends this month.

The German is believed to be in talks with the Bundesliga club Hamburg SV and is expected to take a role there rather than re-sign for Ghana.

He told BBC Sport Online that he was unlikely to accept Ghana's offer for a two-year contract when his three-month mandate ends on 31 December.

If he does decide to go it will be a major blow to Ghana who have had three different coaches in the last fifteen months.

Zumdick said the decision is "a very difficult one to take".

But he said Hamburg's ambitions and the presence of his close friend Klaus Topmoeller, the team's coach, was weighing the decision in Hamburg's favour.

"Hamburg is a big club at least in Germany and the opportunity to coach there and also to take charge of the youth squad is too good," he told this website.

Zumdick will still take charge of Ghana for the Olympic qualifier against Zambia in Lusaka on 20 December and Algeria in early January.

Zumdick replaced Bukhard Ziese as Ghana coach on a three-month contract earlier this year.

He led Ghana through the preliminary stages of the 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign which included a 7-0 aggregate win over Somalia.