Ernst Middendorp heads back to Germany after 18 years in SA

Cape Town — German third-division club SV Meppen have announced the appointment of Ernst Middendorp as their new coach.

The Liga 3 team made the announcement after Middendorp surprisingly walked away from Swallows FC after a short, turbulent spell.

Fix! ✍️ - Ernst Middendorp neuer SVM-Cheftrainer

Neuer Cheftrainer wird Ernst #Middendorp. Er trainierte zuletzt in der ersten Liga Südafrikas den Swallows FC (Johannesburg). Seinen dort bis zum Sommer 2026 datierten Vertrag hat er aufgelöst.

👉 https://t.co/RfbdHRsrus#ndsvm pic.twitter.com/wkIQ4EGS6Q

— SV Meppen 1912 e.V. (@svmeppen1912) March 7, 2023

On their website, the German club said: “Ernst Middendorp will be the new head coach of the club.

“He most recently coached Swallows FC in the South African Premier League. He cancelled his contract there, which ran until the summer of 2026. Ernst Middendorp signed a contract with SVM until the end of the season.

“Middendorp coached Arminia Bielefeld three times: first in 1988 to 1990, then again from 1994 to 1998. During his second term, he led Arminia from the regional league to the Bundesliga.”

Before walking away, Middendorp upset Swallows bosses last week when he said he wasn’t afraid of getting fired following a heavy defeat to Orlando Pirates.

For now, Middendorp’s love affair with South African football, which began way back in 2005, appears to be over.

He arrived in the country that year after he appointed as Kaizer Chiefs coach, but his tenure at Naturena lasted only two years, and he was sacked in 2007.

He briefly returned to Germany that year, but was soon back in South Africa in 2009 for his first of four stints in charge of Maritzburg United, the last of which ended just last year.

His best season in South Africa, however, was during the 2019-20 season, where in his second stab at the Chiefs job saw him narrowly miss out on winning the Premiership title.

That season, Chiefs spent the majority of the campaign at the top of the league, but the season was brought to a sudden halt due to the Covid-19 pandemic. When the league resumed, the wheels fell off spectacularly and they could only finish runners-up to Mamelodi Sundowns.

At SV Meppen, he finds a team at the bottom of the league; a situation he has experienced before. During the 2015-16 season, he famously rescued Maritzburg from relegation in dramatic fashion, and that is what his new club will be hoping he will be able to do.

@KingBiyela