Schalke today appointed Ralf Rangnick as their new coach following the departure of Felix Magath.

Rangnick, who left Hoffenheim on 1 January, has signed a contract until 2014. He returns to Schalke having led the Royal Blues from September 2004 to December 2005.

He will officially take charge of the club on Monday with Seppo Eichkorn, Magath's right-hand man at Stuttgart, Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg, placed in temporary charge for this weekend's Bundesliga clash with Bayer Leverkusen.

Rangnick's first game back on the Schalke bench will be against St Pauli on 1 April. The 52-year-old led the team to second in the Bundesliga and to the final of the DFB-Pokal in his first spell in charge.

Schalke have reached the final of the DFB-Pokal again this season while they are also in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League, but they are a long way from the top two and Magath paid for their poor league form by losing his job yesterday.

Schalke will discover tomorrow who they will meet in the last eight of the Champions League as they bid to reach the semi-finals for the first time in the club's history.

In May, they face second division side Duisburg in the final of the DFB-Pokal with a place in the UEFA Europa League next season, as well as their first piece of silverware since 2002, at stake.