After 1. FC Union Berlin fell to bottom place in the Bundesliga, the club parted ways with long-time successful coach Urs Fischer last week. Since then, the rumor mill has been bubbling ever hotter about who could succeed him. The list of candidates has recently become longer and longer, and there is now also a real world star on it.
As can be seen from a “Bild” report, the name Raúl is currently being traded by the Iron Men. There shouldn’t be anything concrete about the personality yet, but there are “whispers among Berliners about the world star,” according to the newspaper report. It is not yet known whether Union, in the person of sports director Oliver Ruhnert, has already made direct contact with Raúl.
The long-time star striker from Real Madrid, who also has a two-year history with FC Schalke 04, has been training the Royal team’s second team for four years now. The 46-year-old has been linked several times with clubs from Spain and Germany (most recently FC Schalke), but remained loyal to Real Madrid Castilla until the end.
According to information from “Bild”, another coach is also said to be a candidate in Berlin-Köpenick: Alfred Schreuder already has several years of experience in the Bundesliga. He initially worked as assistant coach to Julian Nagelsmann at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim from 2015 to 2018, then later worked as head coach in Kraichgau for a year.
Grote and Eta in the coaching bench at Union Berlin on Saturday
Schreuder then continued his coaching career at FC Barcelona (assistant coach), FC Brugge, Ajax Amsterdam and most recently Al-Ain in the United Arab Emirates. The Dutchman is currently without a club and could therefore take over as the new head coach at Union Berlin in the short term.
The only thing that is currently clear for the Iron Men is that Marco Grote and Marie-Louise Eta will be on the bench as interim coach duo against FC Augsburg next Saturday.