Third-division football club Erzgebirge Aue has announced its first new winter addition and made two personnel decisions off the pitch.
There is a lot going on at FC Erzgebirge Aue at the moment. After the relegation-threatened third division club brought Pavel Dotchev back as coach a few days ago, further personnel decisions followed at the beginning of this week: The Saxons have found a new general manager in Olaf Albrecht, signed Panagiotis Stamatopoulos as co-coach and made the first winter addition in Kilian Jakob.
The 24-year-old comes to Erzegbirge on a free transfer from second-division club Karlsruher SC and is expected to strengthen the left side of defence. Jakob has only played a supporting role at KSC in recent seasons. He was substituted three times in the first half of the season. The former U18 international knows the 3rd League from his time at Türkgücü München.
Meanwhile, the league is new territory for the new co-coach Stamatopoulos. The 50-year-old will assist Dotchev in the second half of the season. Until the end of the pre-season, Stamatopoulos worked for four years as co-coach of the regional league team FC Homburg. In the meantime, he also stepped in as interim coach. In addition, the Cologne native has worked as head coach and co-coach in Greek professional football and as an assistant at Fortuna Düsseldorf and Kickers Offenbach, among others.
“We are happy that we have succeeded in making these two personnel decisions, because here and there we wanted to strengthen ourselves in a targeted manner for the further fight to stay in the relegation zone,” sporting director Matthias Heidrich is quoted as saying about the two new arrivals. “Joti brings a lot of experience, knowledge, ability and enthusiasm to his new role as co-trainer. And with Kilian, we know about his footballing qualities, which he has already proven in the second Bundesliga.”
Meanwhile, Albrecht, the new managing director, comes from the management of a long-time sponsor of the Auer. He is taking over on an interim basis for Michael Voigt, who left the club a week ago. It is not known how long the 55-year-old will fill the post.