Berlin: Hertha Berlin signed coach Michael Skibbe after the dismissal of former coach Markus Babbel, the club announced.

Michael Skibbe signed a two-and-a-half year contract at the "Hauptstadtclub" as a head coach here on Thursday.

The 46-year-old already coached Borussia Dortmund and Leverkusen in the German first division. Furthermore, he was coach of the German national team from 2000 until 2004 together with Rudi Voeller in a dual leadership where they were the runners-up at the Fifa World Cup in 2002 in South Korea and Japan.

"I am glad to be here but I am also very excited to push on the positive development of Hertha Berlin.

"That is my goal and our goal as a club. I am also convinced that the team has enough quality to play attractive football and to permanently stay in first division. I want to of course have a positive end result with Berlin," Skibbe told Xinhua.

The last club for Skibbe in Germany was Eintracht Frankfurt where he was sacked after two years and then joined Turkish side Eskisehirspor for only six month to return to Germany.