Swiss coach Christian Gross returned to take over the position of coach of Zamalek, succeeding Portuguese Jose Gomes, who left as coach of the white team last week, according to what the Egyptian club announced on Monday.
The club wrote on its official account on the X platform, “Things happen… Godfather Gross is back.”
A source in the club’s management said: “Gross arrived in Cairo on Sunday and went directly to Burj Al Arab Stadium and attended the match between Zamalek and Al Masry in the African Confederation Cup, then held a meeting with Hussein Labib, Chairman of the Club’s Board of Directors.”
He added, “Gross will lead the team on Monday, and then he will sign Zamalek training contracts until the end of the season, with the possibility of extending it for another season in agreement with the board of directors.”
The Portuguese Gomes had announced his departure from Zamalek in exchange for paying the value of the release clause, due to disagreements with the club’s management due to the delay in his financial dues, to take over the training of the Saudi Al-Fateh team.
The Portuguese has led the white team since February 2023, winning the African Confederation Cup and the 2024 African Super Cup, while losing the 2023 Egypt Cup final and exiting the 2024 Egypt Cup in the round of 16, and finishing third in the 2023-2024 Egyptian League.
Gross returned to lead Zamalek again after he coached the white team from July 2018 to May 2019, during which he won the 2019 African Confederation Cup title, while finishing second in the Egyptian League after a strong struggle with Al-Ahly and Pyramids.
Gross led Zamalek in 48 matches in various competitions, during which he achieved 29 wins, 13 draws and 6 defeats, before he left the team at the end of his contract due to disagreements with the club’s management headed by Mortada Mansour at the time.
Gross (70 years old) began his coaching career in 1988, and coached the Vail and Grasshoppers clubs in Switzerland before coaching English club Tottenham in the 1997-1998 season. Gross then coached the Swiss club Basel, the German club Stuttgart, and the Saudi club Al-Ahly Jeddah, before coaching Zamalek.
Following his departure from Zamalek, Gross returned to coach Al-Ahly Saudi Arabia, then led German club Schalke from December 2020 to February 2021, and stopped training since then.
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