Ex-Germany international Stefan Effenberg has taken his first coaching job in football after accepting an SOS call from second-division crisis club Paderborn on Tuesday.

The 47-year-old Effenberg, who won the last of his 35 caps in 1998 and currently works as a Sky pundit, has received a contract until June 2017, his new club has confirmed.

The west German side are just above the relegation places in the second division after losing seven of their league games having been relegated last season.

"It's a win-win situation," Paderborn president Wilfried Finke, who met with Mallorca-resident Effenberg on the Balearic Island, told German magazine Sport Bild.

"The results of the last few months have shown that we need a different type of bloke as our coach. We need a different approach.

"Effenberg has a wealth of experience, he knows how to deal with the situation."

The hardman midfielder, who was nicknamed 'The Tiger' during his playing career, earned his coaching licence in 2012.

During his career he was a physical presence in midfield for Bayern Munich, during two spells from 1990-92 and then 1998-2002, and won the 2001 Champions League title.

He was an uncompromising figure, who often fell foul of referees and earned a record 114 yellow cards in his career.

He was the first player in Bundesliga history to be sent off for a second yellow card, in August 1991 for Bayern against Schalke, after the rule was introduced.

Effenberg is poised to give up his television work and his first game in charge will be at home to fourth-placed Braunschweig on Friday in Germany's second tier.