New coach for crisis club
Record coach is back in the 3rd league
November 16, 2025 – 12:28 p.mReading time: 1 min.
SSV Ulm is currently in sporting difficulties. Now a well-known name is supposed to stabilize the “Sparrows”.
The floundering third division soccer team SSV Ulm is relying on concentrated experience in the midst of its sporting crisis: Pavel Dotchev, record coach in the 3rd division, is taking over the vacant coaching position at the relegated second division, which parted ways with coach Moritz Glasbrenner and managing director Markus Thiele on Monday. Ulm announced this on Sunday.
The 60-year-old Dotchev receives a contract valid until 2027. He is an “absolute expert in the 3rd league,” said Dominik Schwärzel, chairman of the Ulm supervisory board: “He has already stabilized his teams several times and led them to stay in the league – that is exactly what we need now.” As table 18th. Ulm is once again threatened with relegation.
“The discussions with those responsible were characterized by great respect and a shared vision,” said Dotchev: “I feel that something can happen here and I am convinced of the quality of this team.”
Dotchev will hold his first training session publicly on Monday (2 p.m.). With a view to the succession plan for the laid-off managing director Thiele, the club is “in final discussions. The potential candidates were already involved in the choice of coach,” the club said in a statement.
Dotchev brings the experience of 366 games in the 3rd league with him to Ulm. On December 1, 2024, he was released from Erzgebirge Aue.