Borussia Mönchengladbach’s U19 juniors will work with a new coach with immediate effect following the departure of Alexander Ende for SC Verl.

Alexander Ende has left Borussia Mönchengladbach’s U19 Bundesliga team. The football coach has accepted an offer from third-division club SC Verl and will succeed Mitch Kniat at Poststraße, who moved to Arminia Bielefeld.

Endes’ successor in Mönchengladbach has now also been decided: Oliver Kirch, who himself laced up his boots for the Foals as an active player from 2003 to 2007, will be the new head coach of the young Foals’ eleven. He worked for Hamburger SV’s U19s for the last two seasons.

“Alex Ende returned to Borussia as U19 coach in December 2022 – having previously worked in the Foals’ stable for five years from 2015 to 2020 – and achieved a good end to the season with the team, including winning the Niederrheinpokal and thus qualifying for the DFB Junior Cup,” said Mirko Sandmöller, director of the youth development centre. “Now Alex has approached us at short notice with the wish to switch to SC Verl and thus to the professional area. We have now complied with this wish. We wish him all the best for his professional and private future.”

The 40-year-old Kirch, like Ende, was a professional himself. At the end of his time in Mönchengladbach, the defensive midfielder had 22 Bundesliga games and one DFB Cup game to his name, as well as 26 Oberliga games (3 goals) and five Regionalliga games for Borussia’s U23. In the course of his active career, Kirch also played for Arminia Bielefeld, 1. FC Kaiserslautern, Borussia Dortmund (30 competitive games between 2012 and 2015, editor’s note) and SC Paderborn.

Oliver Kirch: Coaching Stations in Bielefeld and Hamburg

After the end of his active career, Kirch, who is currently studying for the highest coaching licence in German football – together with Borussia’s U23 coach Eugen Polanski – initially joined Arminia Bielefeld as co-coach of the U23.

In the following three years, he also worked for the East Westphalians as co-coach of the U17s, team manager and head coach of the U19s, as well as development coach, before becoming head coach of Hamburger SV’s U19s in the summer of 2021. After the Hanseatic League finished its first season under Kirch in tenth place in the A-Junioren-Bundesliga Nord/Nordost, he led them to third place in the past season.