Ex-Osnabrück coach
Marco Grote makes his comeback as a coach in Germany. After his drastic experience in Greece, the former Osnabrück coach signed a contract with Union Berlin, where he will be in charge of the Bundesliga club’s U19s from the summer.
“Union’s development in recent years has been enormous,” said Grote about his new club, whose highest youth team finished the current season in eighth place in the A-Junior Bundesliga North/Northeast. “I am very much looking forward to being a part of this special club as the U19 coach and to contributing to further successes.”
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Grote also gained experience as a youth coach at Werder Bremen, where, according to Union youth boss André Hofschneider, he “played offensive, successful football and pursued sustainable talent development”. The previous U19 coach, André Vilk, also stays with Union and will occupy a different position as a coach in the Köpenick youth academy.
Grote returns from Athens – time at Apollon “even more extreme than expected”
After leaving Germany, Grote spent just under a month in charge of Apollon Smyrnis in the Greek first division before the club curiously parted ways with him. “After the second game, my assistant coach and my video analyst were fired without my knowledge. From that moment I knew it was going to be really interesting,” Grote told Transfermarkt in February shortly after his sacking. He only took office in January of this year.
“The sporting director called me at half past twelve in the night after our away game at PAS Giannina to inform me of the leave of absence,” said und Grote about the interlude in Greece. He smiled and explained: “Precisely because it seemed so unsolvable, with a different language, a different culture, imponderables, table situation, corona pandemic and other influences, it was so appealing to me. That’s exactly why I wanted this challenge, to get out of the normal routine.”
Ultimately, however, it was at the Athens club that “everything was even more extreme” than originally expected. Professionalism and seriousness are something else, the conditions and possibilities are extremely limited,” said Grote. “Nevertheless, I don’t want to miss this experience.”
Welcome to the Iron Ones, Marco #Grote!#fcunion | #Iron offspringhttps://t.co/yYOQWfBd2m
— 1. FC Union Berlin (@fcunion) May 4, 2022
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