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Norwich City have appointed former Huddersfield Town boss David Wagner as their new head coach on a 12-month rolling contract.
The 51-year-old succeeds Dean Smith, who was sacked the day after his side’s defeat at Luton Town on 26 December.
Wagner guided the Terriers to Premier League promotion in 2017 and kept them in the top flight for a season before leaving by mutual consent in 2019.
“This is a very special and proud moment,” he told the club website.
“To be here, back in England, as the head coach of Norwich City is a huge honour.
“I’ve very pleased with what I have seen so far. The facilities at the Lotus Training Centre are top class. We now have to look forward and work extremely hard.
“This is a new challenge for us all. Will it be easy? No. We have to leave what has happened in the past behind. If we want success, we have to be together. Together as a group of players, backroom staff and supporters.”
Wagner will be joined by Christophe Buhler as assistant head coach, and current Canaries loan player manager Andrew Hughes will become first-team coach.
Wagner last worked as boss of Swiss side Young Boys. His stint in Bern lasted just eight months, and included a Champions League group stage win against Manchester United, but it ended in March 2022 when Young Boys were a distant second in their attempt to defend their Swiss title.
Prior to that he was appointed boss of German giants Schalke, but he lasted just one full season having posted a bottom-half finish.
He was sacked just two games into his second campaign, following an 8-0 defeat by Bayern Munich and 3-1 home loss to Werder Bremen.
Wagner’s return to English football with Championship side Norwich will again see him work with Canaries sporting director Stuart Webber, a key figure who brought the Germany-born former United States international to Huddersfield as a relative unknown in 2015.
He takes over a Canaries side that are 11th in the Championship table, having collected just one point from a possible 12 since mid-December.
Despite the poor run, which has seen them win just one of their five games since the resumption following the World Cup break, they are just three points outside the play-off spots.
Norwich were relegated from the Premier League last season under Smith and were again favourites to go straight back up, having won the Championship title in their past two promotion-winning campaigns in 2019 and 2021.
Those were both achieved under German Daniel Farke, who was sacked in November 2021 when they were bottom of the Premier League after 11 games.
They failed to improve, finishing 20th as they were relegated back into the second tier.
