Kießling set to take up post at Bayer 04

Kießling, who ended his playing career with Bayer 04 in the summer, will take up the post created for him by Rudi Völler providing support to  the sporting management and other departments at the club.

This will be the start of a second career at the Werkself for the 34-year-old who made 444 appearances and scored 162 goals for the Black and Reds between 2006 and 2018. "I'm really looking forward to the new job and working in close cooperation with Rudi Völler," said Kießling. "It's extremely exciting to get to know another side of football now."

For Völler, the culmination of the long-held ambition of the Leverkusen hero to embark on a career in club management is, "a good day for us. Hardly anybody else embodies the absolute identification with Bayer 04  more than Stefan Kießling," declared the 1990 World Cup winner. "He'll really get stuck into the job just like he did as player."