Dane Bo Henriksen appointed coach at ailing Mainz

Dane Bo Henriksen has been appointed coach of ailing Mainz in succession of Jan Siewert on a contract until 2026, the Bundesliga club said on Tuesday.

Henriksen, 49, joins second bottom Mainz from Switzerland's Zurich, where he was in charge since 2022 but would not renew his contract beyond the season. He previously coached Danish sides including Midtjylland.

His first match will be on Saturday against Augsburg, with the official presentation set for later Tuesday.

"We undertook an intense analysis of the tough situation we currently find ourselves in to determine which type of coach and which style of play would fit best to us," Mainz head of sport Christian Heidel said.

"This led us to Bo Henriksen, a coach that has managed to bring his teams together and get them to play a pragmatic, yet courageous and ultimately successful, brand of football several times already in his career.

"Bo is also a very emotional, honest and opinionated person, who exudes positive energy and will fit in perfectly at Mainz."

Mainz are second last in the Bundesliga, four points away from Cologne in the relegation play-off spot, and nine adrift of Union Berlin in safe 15th place.

Henriksen is tasked to save them from relegation like he managed in Zurich. He took over the then last-placed team in October 2022 and kept them in the Super League. Zurich are now third in gthe league.

Henriksen is the third Mainz coach this season, the others being Bo Svensson, who resigned in November, and Siewert, who lasted only three months and was axed on Monday in the wake of a 3-1 weekend defeat at VfB Stuttgart.

Siewert won the first game against RB Leipzig but that remains the team's only season victory from 21 games as they face the drop after being in the top flight without interruption since 2009.