Christian Gross hired to end Schalke's 29-game winless run

GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany (AP) - Schalke hired Christian Gross as coach on Sunday in a bid to bring an end to the club's long winless streak and avoid relegation from the Bundesliga.

The Gelsenkirchen-based club said the 66-year-old Swiss coach will be assisted by Onur Cinel, Naldo, Matthias Kreutzer and goalkeeping coach Simon Henzler.

Schalke is last in the Bundesliga with just four points from 13 rounds and a winless run that stretches to a club-record 29 games over two seasons.

Tasmania Berlin holds the league record of 31 games without a win from the 1965-66 season and Schalke next faces Hertha Berlin away on Jan. 2 and Hoffenheim at home a week later.

'œThe next five months will be all about managing to stay in the Bundesliga,'ť Schalke sporting director Jochen Schneider said. 'œChristian Gross has shown in both Germany and England that he can successfully take on challenges like this.'ť

Gross said in May that he was retiring from coaching. The former midfielder was last coach of Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia for his third stint. He also coached Cairo-based Zamalek in Egypt. His last coaching job in Europe was at Swiss side Young Boys in 2012. Gross' former teams also include Stuttgart and Tottenham.

Gross is Schalke's fourth coach of the season after David Wagner, Manuel Baum and Huub Stevens, who took over for just two games on an interim basis after Baum was fired on Dec. 18.

'œWe need to have a good atmosphere in and around the team to be successful again. I will give everything so that we can accomplish our goals together,'ť Gross was quoted as saying on the Schalke website.

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