HSV's Knäbel arrvies

Peter Knäbel has already had a hand in shaping many of Germany's top division stars. From Xherdan Shaqiri at Bayern Munich to Granit Xhaka of Borussia Mönchengladbach, the 48-year-old has been instrumental in nurturing talents across the border in Switzerland.

A taste of that football revolution was on show at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Years of structural reforms in the Swiss Football Federation (SFV) and success at various age groups threaded the tapestry together for the national team's current identity and playing style.

Knäbel left the Swiss FA after five years as the technical director and took up office on October 1, as Hamburg's "Director of Professional Football". In other words, he was the successor to the former sporting director Oliver Kreuzer before being confirmed as the club's head coach until the end of the season.

As of last summer, Hamburg's football operations have been managed by a satellite company "HSV Football AG" which aims to raise extra investment from the club's "strategic partners". All operations from first-team to U16 level will be managed within the new corporation, and ex-sporting director Dietmar Beiersdorfer returned to take over as CEO.

Beiersdorfer was quick to follow through on early promises in changing the make-up of the football management, whilst billionaire Klaus-Michel Kühne has approved a 25-million-euro "soft loan", which has seen the club invest in new players this summer, such as, Valon Behrami.

Knäbel was appointed initially to spearhead any activity in the transfer market and oversee wider football operations, including the maintenance and organization of a brand-new HSV youth campus. But now his focus will move to day-to-day coaching in a bid to keep Hamburg in the top-flight.

Reviving Swiss football

Knäbel, a former footballer with FC St Pauli, arrived with a glowing CV. In various positions with the country's leading club FC Basel and the SFV, he has contributed to the steady, international rise and evolution of Swiss football.

While the league suffers inherent economic problems, FC Basel's recent success, backed by a modern and inventive style of football, in both the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League has cast a positive light over Swiss football.

Xhaka and Shaqiri were the first to depart for Germany, with Valentin Stocker moving from Basel to Hertha Berlin this summer. Knäbel was the technical director of the 17-time Swiss champions, before taking charge of the club's youth department in 2006.

Three years later, the promising strategies implemented in Basel caught the eye. Knäbel overlooked the main football operations at the SFV from 2009 until last year, including youth development and 'A' team affairs.

The national team has thrived on an increased talent pool, thanks in part to the efforts of social integration. Despite some murmurs of unrest, the attempts to convince many refugees from the Balkans who moved to Switzerland to play under a united national flag has been a source of pride for the ethnically and culturally-diverse population of six million.

One crop of fresh-faced teenagers came together to win the 2009 U17 World Cup in Nigeria, and quite a few of the names will be familiar to Bundesliga followers: Haris Seferovic (Eintracht Frankfurt), Ricardo Rodriguez (Wolfsburg) and Granit Xhaka (Borussia Mönchengladbach) were all involved.

Two years later, an older collection of players fell at the last hurdle of the 2011 U21 European Championships. Thanks to Knäbel's help at Basel and SFV, those seeds planted in the early 2000s have sprouted and blossomed to aid Switerzland's qualification for the 2010 and 2014 World Cup.

Having been 83rd in the FIFA rankings in 1998, the Swiss national team is now in the top ten. The women's national team has also improved, booking a place at this summer's Women's World Cup.

From a nation rich in talent to a club in the mire, Knäbel's focus will be on short-term results to pick up Hamburg's form after six games without a win.

Hamburg only survived last season through a nail-biting play-off with Greuther Fürth and now Knäbel has eight matches to protect the club's famous status of never being relegated from the Bundesliga.