Hamburg  - Christoph Daum will stay on as Cologne coach, confirming his return to German first division football eight years after he was fired over a cocaine affair.

"We will continue working together," said Daum shortly before midnight on Wednesday after a long meeting with top officials of the promoted club.

"We have started something great which we want to continue in the first division. I am happy to stay on in this city," Daum told reporters and a large group of delighted fans in a video on the Cologne website.

Daum, 54, admitted that he had doubts during the season whether to continue at the western German club. But he said that strong showings in the final second division rounds and large support from the fans convinced him to continue his contract which runs until 2010.

General manager Michael Meier admitted that "the personal ambitions of Christoph Daum are far away from Cologne's," which made him even more happy that Daum will stay on.

"We are very thankful," Meier said.

Daum has a soft spot for Cologne as he played for the club and also started his coaching career there, first at the second team, then as assistant and finally as head coach
1986-1990.

He then moved on to VfB Stuttgart 1009-1993, winning the Bundesliga title in 1992. His third German club was Bayer Leverkusen 1996-2000 (after a spell at Turkey's Besiktas), which he guided to second place in the Bundesliga three times.

The ambitious Daum was then to crown his career with the job as German national team coach from 2001 onwards after having reached an agreement with the German football federation in the summer of 2000.

But that never materialized after Daum became embroiled in a cocaine affair. In early October 2000, Bayern Munich manager Uli Hoeness suggested that Daum had to take action against drug use allegations.

Daum protested his innocence and agreed to a hair test, which turned out to be positive for cocaine. He was fired in Leverkusen on October 21 and lost the Germany job the same day.

Daum left Germany and coached in Turkey again (a second spell at Besiktas and at Fenerbahce) as well as in Austria (Rapid Vienna), as no German club would take him in the first years after the scandal.

But Cologne were finally tempted to bring him back to Germany after the team was relegated in 2006 and enjoyed a sour spell in the second division. It required long talks and several changes of mind before Daum agreed in November of that year.

The German football community welcomed his return and Daum said "I listened to my heart" when he accepted the job of saviour at a second-tier club.

Cologne failed to get back into the Bundesliga last season but did better this time around, clinching promotion two weeks ago. Daum, however, did not confirm that he will stay on until an agreement was reached Wednesday over team issues and financial matters as well.

"There were times when I didn't see a perspective," admitted Daum. "But now we have cleared all hurdles." (dpa)