Former Cologne coach Christoph Daum has been ordered to pay a 100,000 euro ransom to receive his stolen laptop back or risk having the contents published, according to a report in the Express newspaper.

Daum had his laptop stolen from Dusseldorf airport before boarding a flight for Turkey, where he was heading to become the new coach of Fenerbahce, in June.

The laptop contained details of the contract he was about to sign with the Turkish club as well as numerous private documents, including a copy of his will.

According to the Express, the thieves have now made telephone contact with Daum, demanding he pay them 100,000 euros to receive his laptop back.

However, Daum is not going to accept the thieves' demands and has hired a solicitor to deal with the issue.

And he has warned the thieves that they risk a jail term if they do not co-operate.

"Since the information on the laptop is protected by a password, it would already be a crime to break the password," explained his solicitor Dr Stefan Seitz.

"Furthermore, it would be an infringement on data protection. Contravening this could result in a jail sentence of up to three years."

Daum himself has informed the thieves that he will pay a reward for the safe return of his laptop, although that sum will not be anywhere near the 100,000 euros they are demanding.

"I hope to get my laptop back as soon as possible," he said. "Then this whole issue is dealt with as far as I am concerned."