Since Benedetto Muzzicato was relieved of his coaching duties, things have been running like clockwork at Alemannia Aachen: two games, two wins. But a successor to Muzzicato has not yet been found.

With ten points from eleven games, the Alemannia Aachen leadership—led by Managing Director Rachid Azzouzi—was so dissatisfied that they let go of two key sports officials at once: Technical Director Erdal Celik and Coach Benedetto Muzzicato.

Celik had once brought Heiner Backhaus to Alemannia Aachen, helped the club secure promotion, and then signed Muzzicato in the summer of 2025—after Backhaus moved to Eintracht Braunschweig. He was also responsible for putting together the roster.

The club’s last two games proved that Aachen has a solid team. Following Muzzicato’s dismissal, Alemannia secured two victories against SSV Ulm and 1. FC Saarbrücken.

And all of this under interim coach Ilyas Trenz, who served as an assistant under both Backhaus and Muzzicato. Currently, Carsten Wissing is assisting Trenz as his “co-coach.” What happens next remains to be seen. One thing is clear, however: Neither Trenz nor Wissing holds the coaching license required for the 3. Liga. But as SSV Ulm demonstrated—as reported by Forecasting—it is possible to manage without it, though fines will be imposed.

I’d like to take this moment to express my gratitude one last time: First, to Rachid Azzouzi, who has given me his full trust and support over the past two weeks. He’s had my back, and that’s meant the world to me. Second, to my entire team—especially the coaching staff.

Ilyas Trenz

Trenz could very well become a permanent solution. However, several other coaching names are also being bandied about in Aachen. For example: Cristian Fiel (most recently with Hertha BSC and 1. FC Nürnberg) and a former Bundesliga player for Alemannia, or even the name of third-division record-holding coach Pavel Dotchev (most recently with FC Erzgebirge Aue).

In addition, according to Forecasting reports, a well-known FC Schalke 04 veteran is also a hot candidate. We’re talking about Mike Büskens. In recent years, he has held a wide variety of positions at Schalke—assistant coach, coordinator for loaned players, technical staff member—and left the Gelsenkirchen club in the summer of 2024.

The 57-year-old Düsseldorf native’s last head coaching position was with Rapid Vienna during the 2016–2017 season. Interestingly, Aachen’s boss Azzouzi and Büskens know each other from their time together at Spielvereinigung Greuther Fürth. Azzouzi worked in Franconia from 2004 to 2012 and from 2017 to 2024. Büskens also served as head coach in Fürth on two occasions—from December 27, 2009, to March 20, 2013, and from February 23, 2015, to June 30, 2015. It remains to be seen what coaching decision will be made at the Tivoli.

At least the current successful interim coach, Trenz, remains calm. The 28-year-old young coach said after the 2-0 win over Saarbrücken: “I’d like to take this moment to say thank you one last time: First, to Rachid Azzouzi, who has given me his full trust and support over the past two weeks. He’s had my back, and that’s been incredibly encouraging. Second, to my entire team—especially the coaching staff. We’ve been reshuffled a bit, after all. Carsten Wissing, for example, left his own team to help us out. The willingness and the many hours the guys have put in—all of that makes it all the more wonderful that we were able to reward ourselves with two wins.”