Big surprise! Jerome Boateng finds new club in an unfamiliar role

The traditional Turkish club are responding to a poor start to the Süper Lig season and an early exit in Europa League qualifying, where they were beaten by Ferencvaros Budapest.

In a bid to turn things around, the club had already parted company with head coach Fatih Tekke and appointed Thomas Reis as the new coach. The former Bochum boss made a flying start. Trabzon beat champions Galatasaray 4-0, with superstar Mohamed Salah, who only joined from Liverpool in the summer, putting on a gala performance.

Now the reshuffle is set to include the 2014 World Cup winner too: Boateng is to be installed as Reis's assistant coach, with the two parties having already reached a basic agreement to work together.

Shortly, the 76-cap former Germany international is expected in Trabzon to officially sign the contract. For the former professional, the role on the Black Sea coast will be the first coaching job in professional football of his career. From April to August 2025, Boateng had already spent 13 matches as assistant coach under Andreas Wieland with LASK's amateurs, where he officially brought his playing career to an end a little later too.

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How many titles did Jerome Boateng win at Bayern Munich?

At Bayern Munich, the centre-back enjoyed the most successful spell of his career. In just under ten years at Säbener Straße, he built up an impressive haul of honours: nine German championships, two Champions League triumphs and five DFB Cup wins.

Back in 2014, the now 38-year-old hit the peak in a Germany shirt when they won the World Cup in Brazil. Aside from Bayern, his professional career also took him to Hertha BSC, Hamburger SV, Manchester City, Olympique Lyon, US Salernitana and, most recently, to Austria with LASK.

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