Blessin became trainer of KV Oostende in June 2020. Few had heard of him before, but with the coastal squad, the German with no real top-level experience did an excellent job in his first season in Belgium.
He missed a European ticket with KVO, but was named Trainer of the Year at the Pro League Awards.
This season the magic is gone a bit on the coast. Due to the loss of many strong players, KV Oostende is only 15th in the Jupiler Pro League standings with only 7 victories in 21 matches.
Still, Blessin kept trying with his philosophy. A philosophy that they also knew in the Serie A, because today Blessin was appointed in Italy – after paying the severance payment – as head coach of Genoa, the club of Zinho Vanheusden. He signed a contract there until 2024.
In northern Italy, Blessin succeeds the recently fired Andriy Shevchenko. Genoa is currently only 19th with two points more than red lantern Salernitana. So it will be difficult months for Blessin and his technical staff.
Markus Pflanz, Blessin’s assistant at KVO, takes over as head coach for the time being.
Blessin said goodbye to his employees tonight, after which he got on a plane to Italy. “It all went so fast”, the German states on the KVO site. “This matter was settled in one day, it is still difficult for me to grasp it. Because the transition was not yet in place, I was not able to say goodbye to the players even after training. I will certainly contact them. to do that.”
“Genoa is an offer I could not refuse. It is a tradition club in Serie A and I have been offered a long-term project there. This is a great step in my career but I will always be grateful to KVO for the opportunity I got here I – and also my family – always felt at home here and I will miss everyone terribly. Hopefully I can return to say goodbye properly.”
The Ostend board says that Blessin’s departure was written in the stars. “We believed in Alex’s potential in June 2020 and it was a great experience for everyone to see him grow in his role here,” said CEO Gauthier Ganaye.
“So I want to thank Alex for the amazing 18 months we spent together. We knew that this day would come eventually, it could have been sooner, it could have been later, but it would always happen in the end. That’s why we prepared at the moment and we now want to appoint a new head coach as soon as possible to start this new chapter in the club’s history.”
