Young heads in the interview
© Imago
When it comes to the best youth work in Germany, experts often call the “foal stable”. For years, Borussia Mönchengladbach has been consistently promoting the youth. The best examples of this are Rocco Reitz, Tiago Pereira Cardoso or Yvandro Borges Sanches. At the transfer market, young director Mirko Sandmöller talks about his personal career, emotional moments and the extensive talent development.
The players, but also those responsible in the youngsters of Borussia Mönchengladbach, will not quickly forget about June 15 of this year. When the referee whistled the final for the German B youth championship between the Fohlen and RB Leipzig, it was no longer on the seats on the Gladbacher. Sandmöller also didn’t know where with his emotions. In a way, this championship title was the confirmation of the work of recent years.
“Before that, I would not have to do justice to me at that moment, but suddenly they were there. I was happy for the entire club. The cheering employees and players were very special. The final at home in the Borussia Park in front of a record setting of almost 11,000 spectators and then celebrating the title-we were not able to get the feast. Employees celebrated in a box until the evening.
Sandmöller about career and what distinguishes a good trainer
The 42-year-old has been active in the club since 2008 and has already held various positions in the youth department. “I studied diploma sports with a focus on economics and management at the Cologne Sports University and gained the chance to sniff in at Borussia in the U17 area during my internship. At that time, I deliberately wanted to keep different ways. In football, almost nothing can be planned anyway. I know how to make decisions better or make decisions of others because I know and work as a coach.
All TM interviews
With neururer, standing, wimmer …
This way!
The current success is not surprising for many experts, after all, Sandmöller enjoys an excellent reputation. Accordingly, he also has a clear idea of what characterizes a good trainer regardless of the results. “First of all, a trainer has to reach people. Of course it becomes more complex because, among other things, the public interest and the media accompaniment increase, but in the end it is always about accompanying the player in his development, improving him and inspiring for his own idea. To do this, the coach has to take different roles. Find leadership, empathy, imparting knowledge and communication strength. “
As a player, he was only active at amateur level. Accordingly, at the beginning of his coaching career, he also had to put up with the question of how someone can judge whether a young person is suitable for professional football who has never made it into professional football. “Of course, it can help you in this position if you have gained a player as a player, but this is not necessarily the decisive criterion. Unfortunately, many tend to automatically and say that a good player is also a good coach. For me, there are two completely different pairs shoes. Nobody in football has a glass ball and can say that player XY becomes 100 percent football professional,” said Sandmöller, who pushes in detail:
“We can speak of probabilities through experience, feeling and assessment. Talent promotion always has a lot to do with probability calculation. We have to ask people in the NLZ: How do we use our training to prepare the players for the requirements in the next year and in the long term for professional football?
Sandmöller about challenges and talent promotion at Gladbach
Sandmöller’s start in this position was initially associated with some challenges. “When I started this task, I had already gained a variety of experiences, but it is something completely different if you have to make and take responsibility for a large team of employees in the end. The most drastic experience for me was the death of Jordi Bongard one day after taking office. On the one hand, you didn’t know where to work and on the other hand. Phase. “
While many Bundesliga clubs have had a hard time achieving good permeability in recent years, in Gladbach they are proud of its positive development. After all, in the recent past, some own plants made the sustainable leap into the professional team. “The promotion of talent has been firmly anchored in the DNA of Borussia Mönchengladbach for decades. We have very short distances in the club, the connection to sports managing director Roland Virkus is close and Steffen Korell sits only a few office space next to me. This means that we are constantly in exchange. Cado planning in the young area is not primarily about sending a team to the field that gains titles, but to develop players who can move up in the professional squad through targeted training and further measures. “
Nowadays, great pressure is on many talents, after all, they compete with the best youngsters in the country or the world – depending on the club – for the coveted but limited squad places in the professional team. To prepare them as much as possible, a multi -layered concept is necessary. “We have two tasks very simple in the youth area: the best talent and enable them to be the best training. We also have to be honest, not every of our talents will make the jump to our professionals. I deliberately say to our professionals. Our aim and an incentive in the NLZ is to train the boys in such a way that they are able to assert themselves in professional football. In our tasks in my eyes, it also includes the boys, the boys, the boys, the boys, it also includes the boys. To introduce success in professional football and to sensitize them.
Sandmöller: “The competition for talent has become more global”
Two words that are now used inflationarily by every club are club DNA and game philosophy. But how do you manage to implement these words into concrete measures so that sustainable structures are created? “In my view, they are essential to have a club and game philosophy. They are guardrails for every player, but also every employee within the club. They create motivation and identification and thus give a clear way. But I also find a question of attitude and conviction to follow these guardrails even in difficult times. In our rooms in the NLZ, for example, our virtue roasting depends on various values. If the boys want to train as a player, but also a kind of life compass for us. decisive that the goal in the navigation system is achieved. “
Exactly this philosophy is important from the point of view of the young director, so that a sense of belonging can develop at an early stage in order to keep the youngsters in their own club. “You don’t have to fool yourself: the competition for talent has become more global. The incentives and demands have increased. We are aware that our talents sometimes attract the interest of even bigger clubs. It is all the more important for us to show the players a way to show and feel that the door in the professional football is generally open to them. A and B youth are currently in the squad who have been training and playing together with us since the U9.
Players such as the newly chosen B-youth champions Can Armando Güner, Wael Mohya or Marcello Trippel will predict a promising future. “In general, we have very interesting talents in every grade. The title is of course a nice confirmation of the past work, but the boys know exactly that there is still a way and they have to continue to work hard. It takes a successive development to reduce the gap to the professionals. I am convinced that they bring a lot to do it.”
In order to always be up to date, sandmöller continues to form. His work and reputation are said to have already gotten into the focus of other clubs. “What I have learned is that it does not work to have a career plan. I do not have the claim and say: I want to be a sports director in the Bundesliga up to the year X or I have to be, otherwise I am not fulfilled. Maybe a door will eventually open, which of course would be nice, but what counts for me is: The task that was entrusted with me with absolute passion and professionalism, so To contribute, ”says Mirko Sandmöller at the end.
Interview and text by Henrik Stadnischenko