Oliver Kahn has turned down the chance to become general manager at Schalke.
The former Bayern Munich and Germany goalkeeper had been tipped to become the successor to Andreas Muller, who left the club earlier this month.
He had held talks with Schalke chairman Clemens Tonnies, but has now revealed it was not the right time to take up the position.
He told Kicker magazine: "I would have loved to have done it, but the offer came six months too early."
Tonnies added in Bild: "At this time it is not happening. But it is not a big issue, it doesn't cause us problems."
Former Germany coach Rudi Voller, currently director of sport at Bayer Leverkusen, has reportedly emerged as another possible candidate, although Leverkusen have denied this.
Schalke are not only looking for a new manager, but also a new coach following the sacking of Fred Rutten.
President Josef Schnusenberg said an interim coach was now likely to be installed for the remaining nine games of the season. The training staff of Mike Buskens, Youri Mulder and Oliver Reck are in temporary charge at the moment.
"We haven't made a definite decision about it yet," Schnusenberg told the club's official website, www.schalke04.de.
"An interim solution with a new coach for the remaining nine games is by all means a consideration.
"We now have the required time thanks to the international break. You need to give us that. But a possible interim coach will definitely work with Mike, Youri and Oliver."
Schnusenberg revealed the 2-1 home defeat by Hamburg last weekend had sealed Rutten's fate.
"The game against HSV was a critical match for us, but there should not have been a knee-jerk reaction." he said. "We wanted to take time over such an important question and that's what we did.
"You have to see that in this season we have largely missed all of our sporting goals. Then doubts of course arise as to whether a continued partnership makes sense and brings success. Fred Rutten lacked luck."
Dutchman Rutten has been linked with the PSV Eindhoven hotseat, but Schnusenberg insisted Schalke never received an approach from the Eredivisie outfit.
"No one contacted us," he said. "We were always honest and open with the coach and of course expect the same in return."
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