Von Heesen takes over at Nuremberg after Meyer sacking

Von Heesen, 46, has signed a contract until the end of June, 2009 which will apply even if the club are relegated.

 He will be in charge for his first game in Thursday's UEFA Cup trip to Portuguese side Benfica.

 "I love the pressure. You just have to channel it properly and turn it into positive energy," von Heesen said.

 "We've had him in mind for quite a while. He is a man with experience in a relegation battle," Nuremberg club president Michael A. Roth said.

 "I think we have the best coach who is on the market at present. After the lack of success of the last few months this day had to come."

   Von Heesen played 340 games as a midfielder for SV Hamburg, ending his playing career in Bielefeld in 1997.

 Meyer, 65, was informed of his dismissal late Monday. It follows a 1-1 home draw with fellow-strugglers Energie Cottbus and a 2-0 defeat at Karlsruhe in the first game following the winter break.

 Meyer had been coach of the club since November 2005 and last season led them to the German Cup, the first major title since winning the Bundesliga in 1968.

 However the current season has proved disappointing, with the team in relegation danger in 16th place, two points off the bottom of the 18-team league with only four wins from 19 matches.

 Meyer himself had not ruled out the possibility of dismissal, but at a press conference earlier Monday was not counting on it coming so soon.

 "If I feel that the decision-makers at the club have lost trust in me, then I'd get out, but I don't feel that's the case," he said.

 Meyer is the third Bundesliga coach to be dismissed this season, after Petrik Sander at Cottbus and Ernst Middendorp at Bielefeld.

DPA