Christian Streich took the Freiburg cult to a new level. In the winter of 2011/12 the club were on the floor. For the first time in the club’s Bundesliga history a coach, Marcus Sorg, was dismissed.
Freiburg were bottom, five points from safety. The club turned to the right man: the long-time youth coach, who cycled to training and whose press conferences became internet hits. He is sometimes cranky, sometimes profound, nearly always pointed, and he delivered one cult line after another.
He dragged Freiburg out of the cellar and to 12th with 27 points in the second half of the season. One year later he led them to fifth place and the Europa League. Now the face of SC Freiburg was known far beyond Baden.