Cologne, Germany - Christoph Daum confirmed Sunday that he will take over as coach of German second division side Cologne just days after ruling himself out of the job for health reasons.
Cologne finally secured Daum`s signature on a four-year contract after the club`s challenge for promotion back to the Bundesliga took a dent with a 2-1 loss to 1860 Munich. Daum will take charge for next Sunday`s match at Greuther Fuerth.
"We are convinced that this is the optimal solution for us," said Cologne club manager Michael Meier, who also revealed that Daum came back to club to with his change of heart.
"He couldn`t live with that decision so he came back to us," said Meier.
"I listened to my heart," said Daum in an interview to be published Monday in the Express newspaper, explaining his decision.
The 53-year-old Daum, who replaces Swiss coach Hanspeter Latour, started his top-flight coaching career at Cologne between 1986 and 1990 but hasn`t coached in Germany since a cocaine affair six years ago.
Latour was dismissed last Thursday after a string of poor results.
"He have a tough challenge ahead of us," admitted Daum.
The German club is said to have offered Daum 2.5 million euros (3.2 million dollars) a year.
The club further reportedly pledged financial backing in the high two-digit millions for the signing of new players to get the team promoted and back into European competition.
Daum, who has spent the last six years in Turkey and Austria, was wanted by the German Football Federation (DFB) as national team coach in 2000 but the plans were dropped in the wake of the cocaine scandal.