Hamburg confirm Fink appointment

Hamburg have confirmed the appointment of Thorsten Fink as their new coach. The German club successfully negotiated a compensation package with Basel after identifying former Bayern Munich midfielder Fink as their preferred candidate to replace Michael Oenning, who was sacked last month. Hamburg director of sport Frank Arnesen said: "Thorsten Fink was the coach I wanted. He fits in with HSV and with our philosophy. He will improve the team and develop us further." Fink, 43, had earlier pre-empted Hamburg's official statement by announcing a deal had been done for him to quit the Swiss champions. "My transfer to Hamburg is complete," he told Sport1 television. "I am no longer the coach of Basel from this moment." Fink spent much of yesterday afternoon in talks with Basel officials about the move, which comes less than a week before their UEFA Champions League tie at home to Benfica, leaving them little time to find a successor. However, he will not be on the Hamburg bench for their clash with Freiburg this Sunday. "Everything has moved so quickly," added Fink. "I will be moving to Hamburg on Monday." Arnesen will be in charge of the team this weekend having taken over team affairs last Monday when a period of grace for Rodolfo Cardoso, who replaced Oenning on an interim basis but does not have the necessary licence to continue, expired. After ending his playing career in 2006, Fink spent two years as coach of Bavarian second division club Ingolstadt before being appointed as coach of Basel in 2009. He led them to back-to-back Swiss league titles and was within minutes of guiding them to an historic victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford in the Champions League a few weeks ago. Fink's immediate task will be to lift Hamburg off the foot of the Bundesliga standings. HSV have won just one of their first eight games, prompting the decision to ditch Oenning. Basel have placed Fink's former assistant Heiko Vogel in interim charge until the end of December while they seek a permanent replacement.