After a severe stroke of fate
Gladbach brings back European champions
Updated on January 4, 2026 – 4:56 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
In 2024, Christian Ziege still had to cope with the loss of his wife. Now the former national player is daring to return to day-to-day business.
New task for a former European champion: Christian Ziege has taken up a new position as assistant coach of Borussia Mönchengladbach’s U17 team. The former national player, who won the title with the DFB at the 1996 European Championship in England, is returning to Borussia in various roles 17 years after his departure to support the newly structured coaching staff.
The 53-year-old Ziege, who has already worked as a player, coach and sports director at Borussia Mönchengladbach, is taking on this role as part of a restructuring of the coaching staff. As the club announced, Eugen Polanski’s promotion to the professional team led to a domino effect in the youth sector. Oliver Kirch, previous U19 coach, is now taking over the U23, while Mihai Enache is moving from the U17 to the U19. Denis Hauswald, who previously coached the U15s, will coach the U17s together with Nils Wüsten and Ziege.
For Ziege, the new task comes just over a year after a serious blow of fate; In November 2024, his wife Pia died after a long, serious illness. In an emotional post, Ziege wrote at the time: “And there are always traces of your life, thoughts, images, moments. They will remind us of you, make us happy and sad and never let you forget.” The Berlin native had two children with Pia, with whom he had been married since 1997, and she also brought a daughter from his first marriage into the relationship.
At the end of his active career, Ziege played for Borussia from 2004 to 2005 and then acquired the A coaching license. In 2006 he initially took over Borussia’s U17 team before being promoted to sports director in 2007. In autumn 2008 he briefly acted as interim professional coach and assistant coach to Hans Meyer before leaving the club in December of the same year. Ziege then worked as a coach and sports director both at home and abroad.