Emotional SC Freiburg head coach tells journalists what the 'story' of his team's season should be

Yahoo

18-05-2025

Perhaps the most significant of the simultaneous kickoffs on the 2024/25 Bundesliga's final matchday didn't break the way of SC Freiburg. A 1-3 home loss meant that Julian Schuster's SCF slipped from fourth to fifth place in the table. A historic opportunity slipped through Freiburg's fingers. Schuster nevertheless declined to be bitter about it. In point of fact, he told journalists exactly what he wished to see in print.
Reasons for this were clear enough. Schuster had quite the task in replacing the legendary Christian Streich this season. Streich retired at the end of last year after 14 seasons in charge of the Freiburg first team and nearly 30 years as an active coach with the Breisgauer.
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Streich led the team to the Europa League a total of four times, including back-to-back UEL seasons in 2022/23 and 2023/24. Unfortunately for the German coaching legend, last season ended on something of a dour note as Freiburg missed out on European qualification.
In his emotional farewell to the only club he's ever served, Streich expressed deep regret that he couldn't keep the Schwarzwaldverein in Europe. Schuster had no real reason to be upset as he has gotten the club back to where it was. A third European qualification in four years certainly counts as a success for such a small market club.
In many respects, Schuster squeezed blood from a stone. Freiburg are off on an international journey next year despite having a minus-four goal differential and many poor stretches of form. Schuster and the club have also managed to honor Streich's legacy on a political and social level.
'It's absolutely not to be taken for granted that SC Freiburg get to play internationally,' Schuster told Sky Germany. 'What I can definitely say is that I am really proud to be the coach of this team and this club. We have eclipsed the accomplishments of larger clubs. These are moments we will never forget.'
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Schuster appeared even more emotional at the post-match press conference. The new young SCF coach sounded very much like Streich, minus the deep Breisgauer dialect of course. Schuster's personal appeal to journalists revealed how much the former SCF player who represented his current team for ten years between 2008 and 2018 truly loved his club.
'I must emphasize that the most significant point is what we've accomplished together this year,' Schuster remarked at the press conference. 'It's remarkable and fantastic to have the privilege of training a team like this. A team with so many fabulous characters and personalities.
'We steadily developed over the course of the season as a team,' Schuster continued. 'We dealt very well with setbacks. The most important point for me is that we always rallied together as a team. We always developed individually and as a team.'
'All those responsible pitched in,' Schuster went on. 'This wonderful staff, this wonderful coaching team that I've been accorded. These engaged and sensational fans. I'm so happy to be headed on an international journey with this club.'
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'And I ask you [journalists] to use that as a headline above all else,' Schuster concluded. 'We lost nothing today. We had a chance to fight for something. The pride and the joy. That should be the headline. Those are the headlines I want to read. Please, to those who understand SC Freiburg, write about that and nothing else.'
GGFN | Peter Weis