German coach and former Beşiktaş player Stefan Kuntz has taken charge of Turkey’s national team, the country’s football federation announced Sunday.
“The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) executive committee has agreed terms with German coach Stefan Kuntz to take helm of the senior national team,” the statement read.
Kuntz will be presented to the media with a contract signing ceremony on Monday in TFF’s national training center in Istanbul.
He will join a signing ceremony and presentation in Istanbul on Monday, the federation added.
"We wish this decision to be auspicious for Turkish football," the TFF said.
Kuntz, 58, led Germany's under-21 team into the Euro final three straight times and won the title in 2017 and 2021.
He takes the place of Şenol Güneş ahead of the deciding stages of the 2022 World Cup qualifying.
Turkey team General Manager Hamit Altıntop told Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) that Kuntz had been the top candidate from the outset, while former Germany coach Juergen Klinsmann and Ukraine's Andriy Shevchenko were also mentioned as potential candidates.
Gunes had to go after a string of poor results over the past months, a Euro 2020 exit with three defeats and a 6-1 defeat in the Netherlands in qualifying two weeks ago.
Turkey had a strong start into qualifying in March but have now slipped behind the Dutch and Norway, with only the group winner qualifying directly for the 2022 tournament in Qatar.
Turkey has not qualified for the World Cup since a surprise third-place finish in 2002.
Kuntz's first game in charge will be a key qualifier against Norway in October, followed by a trip to Latvia three days later.
The former Germany striker and Euro 1996 winner played one season in Turkey, 1995/1996 at Istanbul top club Beşiktaş.
The German Football Federation (DFB) said last week it would release Kuntz out of his contract until 2023 should he reach an agreement in Turkey.
Altintop said that "the talks, including those with the DFB, were all perfect and very, very fair."
