The players laughed when they measured each other in smaller competitions in the training camp in Vals, afterwards some relaxed with a grin in the cool South Tyrolean stream, the attacker Dennis Eckert Ayensa went fishing. So much joy in one fell swoop: At FC Ingolstadt 04, all the annoyance of the relegations of the past few years has turned into bliss after returning to the second Bundesliga. Even the managing director Manuel Sternisa says after a year in his office: “We are on the right track. It couldn’t have gone better.” He means the results of this summer. Not only the professional team rose, the U17 made it into the Bundesliga. The U19 juniors managed to stay in their class there – just like the women’s team in league two.
Nevertheless, Sternisa’s words also cause some amazement. It couldn’t have gone better? Some football fans are still wondering why the club was able to part with successful coach Tomas Oral and sports director Michael Henke immediately after promotion. Well, it must have cracked somewhere. The campaign also brought back memories of the second division promoted a year ago, Eintracht Braunschweig, who was relegated in 2021 without promotion coach Marco Antwerpen. Sternisa says: “Just because it didn’t work elsewhere doesn’t mean we don’t do it here.”
Rather, the 47-year-old says that they have already thought about it well. It was simply about the future – and the question: How does the FCI best position itself for the second division? “As much as the anticipation is: It will of course not only be the best, but also the most difficult second division.” Sternisa expressly thanks Oral and Henke for the promotion they achieved, but thanks also go: “Despite the success, we have analyzed everything and are convinced that together we can get even more out of the squad.”
In addition to Marx and Ben Balla, other additions could come
He is addressing a sticking point. Because the preseason squad is still largely together, and it should stay that way. Remaining in class must largely succeed with the existing staff. Oral and Henke apparently had somewhat more ambitious ideas on the transfer market and wanted to strengthen themselves for the fight one floor higher. But the past two third division years have drained the club financially. In addition, he has undergone a change in style: The Ingolstadt-based company want to become more of a regional anchor again – without too many transfers, but with talents from their own youth training center (NLZ).
After Unterhaching, Ingolstadt recently relied most heavily on U23 players in league three. Of course, that doesn’t mean at all that apart from right-back Jan-Hendrik Marx and midfielder Yassin Ben Balla, there will be no more access, Sternisa emphasizes. Nevertheless, it is clear: “We would then do something at the top, not in terms of breadth.” If in doubt, it is better to use your own junior than a similarly talented approach. In the 4-0 test against regional league club VfB Eichstätt, about 17-year-old full-back Jonas Perconti played with. “This underlines the way to introduce young talents from their own stable to professional football,” says Malte Metzelder, once a player in Ingolstadt and the new manager of professional football. True to his function, he should take care of all managerial tasks that affect the professionals and work with the technical director Florian Zehe, who has the entire club and NLZ in view.
Both Zehe and Metzelder know the new coach well: It’s Roberto Pätzold. He has been working for the FCI as a successful youth coach since 2015, and has held a football instructor license since 2019. Sternisa counted 14 clubs in league one and two that brought coaches from the youth or the second team into the Bundesliga, and he has now followed the trend. In contrast to Braunschweig’s descent, in this experimental set-up the sentence, which is of course also more positive from Ingolstadt’s point of view, probably applies to him: Because it worked elsewhere, it also works here. As a climber, the season goal of course remains to remain in the class even under Pätzold. But that is immensely important, reports Sternisa. Alone because the television money in the second division is several million euros higher than in the leagues below. In addition, the attractiveness of the league also attracts more audiences and better sponsors.
About the choice of coach, the managing director says: “I’m super happy. Above all, he has the competence, knows the club and has already trained most of the youngsters.” In fact, Pätzold knows many players such as the heroes of promotion Filip Bilbija, Merlin Röhl or Fatih Kaya from the U17 or the U19. “Any coach, no matter what name, would not have been as good a match as he was,” says Sternisa. In terms of the regression from an international buyers’ association to a regional training association, that even sounds plausible.
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
