Zweitligist 1. FC Magdeburg is currently in good shape. However, the captain has fallen victim to a changeover.

Thanks to seven points from the last three games, the second division promoted 1. FC Magdeburg climbed to 13th place in the table and left the relegation places.

Until a few weeks ago, head coach Christian Titz’s team was still bottom of the table, but after away wins in Hamburg (3:2) and Nuremberg (2:1), as well as a 1-1 draw against promotion contenders 1. FC Heidenheim, the traditional club has relinquished the red lantern – in the meantime, relegated Arminia Bielefeld is bottom of the table.

That the 51-year-old Titz is a friend of bold decisions was already known from his time at Hamburger SV and Rot-Weiss Essen. It was not only his extremely offensive playing ideas that caused astonishment, but the football coach also did not shy away from early changes in matches and bench positions for actual top performers.

This is now also the case in Magdeburg. For four games now, captain Amara Condé has only been on the bench and was displaced from the starting eleven by the rather unknown Daniel Elfadli. In his first substitution of the season, Condé scored an unfortunate own goal against Eintracht Braunschweig and Magdeburg lost 0:2. In the two most recent games, he did not appear at all and his team picked up four points.

We brought in Elfadli as a backup because of his speed, heading and tackling ability. This meant that one player had to give way and that was Amara Condé.

Christian Titz on his decision.

This decision by Titz is a big surprise. After all, midfield engine Condé is his captain and extended arm, who played 37 times from the start in the promotion season and was one of the best third-division players there. Moreover, Titz and Condé know each other from their days in Essen.

The promotion coach explained the decision against his captain as follows: “With Elfadli, we have installed a safeguard because of his speed, his strength in heading and tackling. Because of that, one player had to give way and that was Amara Condé.”

Amara Condé played for Rot-Weiss Essen from 2019 to 2021 and played 67 competitive games in the RWE jersey – 26 under coach Titz. It will be exciting to see when and if the Magdeburg captain returns to the starting eleven of the second division club.