Union Berlin brings former player Steffen Baumgart back to the club as coach

BERLIN (AP) — Union Berlin is bringing former club favorite Steffen Baumgart back as coach to take over from the fired Bo Svensson after its lackluster start to the Bundesliga season.

The Köpenick-based club said Monday that Baumgart, a former forward who scored 22 goals in two seasons at Union, will take charge of his first training session on Thursday, with a friendly game scheduled against Bundesliga rival Holstein Kiel on Sunday.

It’s the 52-year-old Baumgart’s fourth coaching job after stints in charge of Paderborn, Cologne, and second-division club Hamburger SV, where he was fired in November after the club lost hope he could lead the team to promotion.

“We decided for Steffen Baumgart because we’re convinced that he’s the right type of coach for us,” Union’s sporting director Horst Heldt said. “His way of leading a team, developing and challenging players, was an important aspect of our decision. He also has Bundesliga experience and knows Union very well.”

Heldt also knows Baumgart well after hiring him as Cologne's coach while he was sporting director there.

Baumgart’s appointment is likely to be a popular one in Köpenick. Baumgart, a former forward, was voted Union’s player of the year for both seasons he spent at the club after joining in 2002.

Svennson was fired on Friday after nine games without a win in all competitions.

Union next plays at Heidenheim after the winter break on Jan. 11, before hosting Augsburg. Both opponents are behind 12th-place Union in the standings.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

FILE - Then-Cologne's head coach Steffen Baumgart reacts during the German Bundesliga soccer match between 1.FC Cologne and Borussia Moenchengladbach in Cologne, Germany, Sunday, Oct. 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Ten people were wounded in a shooting outside a New York City nightclub while they were waiting to get into a private event, police said.

About 15 people were standing outside Amazura nightclub at 11:15 p.m. Wednesday in Jamaica, Queens, when four men on foot approached the group of 16 to 20 year olds. Three or four men opened fire on the group, New York Police Department Chief of Patrol Philip Rivera said during an early Thursday news conference.

About 30 shots were fired before the gunmen fled on foot. They were then seen getting into a sedan with out-of-state plates.

There is “zero tolerance for these senseless shootings," Rivera said.

Six women and four men were taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, he said.

A massive police presence and several ambulances could be seen outside Amazura in footage posted on social media.

The motive was not immediately known but Rivera said: “This is not terrorism.”

In this grab taken from a video provided by the New York Police Department, Chief of Patrol Philip Rivera, centre, speaks to the media during a press conference in New York, early Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, the day after a shooting outside a nightclub in Queens. (NYPD via AP)