Amid Russia’s war of aggression, Sandro Schwarz is taking over as head coach at Dynamo Moscow. The 47-year-old cites personal reasons for this move.
Four years after the end of his first tenure at Dynamo Moscow, Sandro Schwarz is returning to the Russian capital club as head coach. The first-division club officially announced this on Friday; Schwarz has signed a three-year contract.
The former Mainz and Hertha coach is thus moving to Moscow in the midst of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. “I am aware that this is difficult for some to understand from the outside,” the 47-year-old told dpa.
Schwarz cited primarily personal reasons for his return, which he said played a “major role.” “My contact with many friends there, which existed long before the war, has never been severed,” said the new and former Dynamo head coach. “I’m not ignoring the war. But first and foremost, I’m a coach for a club that means a great deal to me.”
He had already been on the sidelines at Dynamo from October 2020—just under a year after his departure from Mainz—until the summer of 2022, leading the team to the Russian Cup final and a third-place finish in the league. While other German coaches like Markus Gisdol or Daniel Farke, who were working in Russia at the time, ended their tenures shortly after the start of Russia’s war of aggression, Schwarz remained until the summer. According to his own statements, this was due to his connection with his players.
Just missed the MLS title with New York
In the summer of 2022, Schwarz took over at Hertha BSC, though only until the following spring (29 games, 5 wins). His next stop took him to the MLS and the New York Red Bulls; in 2024, he led the team to the final, where New York was defeated by Marco Reus’s Los Angeles Galaxy. After missing the playoffs the following season, Schwarz’s tenure came to an end.
In addition to Schwarz, another German coach, Josef Zinnbauer, was active in the Premier League in the recent past following the start of Russia’s war of aggression. However, the former HSV coach had to leave Lokomotiv Moscow after just three months. In the recently concluded season—which Dynamo Moscow finished in 7th place—coaches from Spain and Switzerland were also active in Russia.
