The former TSV 1860 coach Michael Köllner is the new coach of the third division club FC Ingolstadt. The 53-year-old should secure the FCI’s league status. The new sports director will be Munich-born Ivica Grlić.
FC Ingolstadt is about to make a new start. FC Ingolstadt has found a new coach just two days after Guerino Capretti was fired. And he’s a well-known face in the 3rd division: Michael Köllner. Köllner had recently coached league rivals TSV 1860 Munich before being released at the end of January. In addition, Ivica Grlić succeeds Malte Metzelder.
Köllner, who was born in the Upper Palatinate, is happy about the trust placed in him and says about his start in Ingolstadt: “Now I’m excited to get to know the team personally, because working on the pitch with the boys is the best thing for every coach. After that, it’s good it then goes on in quick succession.”
Only four points in the second half of the season – FCI is worried about staying up
Köllner’s primary goal will be to hold the class. Predecessor Capretti was hired after the team under Rüdiger Rehm missed out on promotion places – and was also released on the same day that Köllner was released from TSV 1860. Under Capretti there was only one win in ten games, the team slipped from seventh to 14th place and is just six points clear of a relegation zone. With four points from eleven games, the FCI is by far last in the second half of the table.
In order to meet his old club, Köllner must succeed in staying up. Because only two days ago the FCI lost 3:1 against TSV 1860 – the defeat meant the dismissal of Capretti. The next meeting would only come next season.
With Nuremberg, Köllner rose to the Bundesliga
“From now on we will focus fully on staying up in the league, for which we see ourselves well prepared with our new head coach Michael Köllner, before we set the course for the next third division season in this new constellation,” says FCI Managing Director Dietmar Beiersdorfer. On Saturday, Köllner will be on the bench in the basement duel with SV Meppen (9 April, 1 p.m.).
Köllner, who has had a football teacher’s license since 2004, can already look back on an impressive CV: he was promoted to the Bundesliga with 1. FC Nürnberg in the 2017/2018 season. Previously, the qualified sports manager worked on the sidelines of the FCN reserve and was in charge of the youth department. He also worked for the German Football Association (DFB) for twelve years as a coordinator in the area of talent promotion (2002 to 2014). At the end of the 2020/2021 third division season, he was named ‘Coach of the Year’.
Grlić back in Upper Bavaria after 19 years in Duisburg
And with Ivica Grlić, FC Ingolstadt will probably sign a prominent new sports director. Grlić, who was trained in the youth department of FC Bayern Munich, began his active football career at TSV 1860 Munich and finally found his home at MSV Duisburg after stations in Cologne and Aachen, has more than 350 professional appearances. After his active career, he was hired as sports director in Duisburg.
He held this post for more than ten years, was promoted twice to the 2nd Bundesliga – and relegated three times. In early 2022, Grlić resigned during a season where promotion was a long way off. FC Ingolstadt is now the second station as an official for the native of Munich.
Source: BR24
April 6, 2023 – 6:30 p.m
