Erzgebirge Aue have appointed Daniel Meyer, previously the 1. FC Köln under-19 coach, as their new head coach.
The 38-year-old replaces Hannes Drews, who resigned for personal reasons after securing the club’s 2. Bundesliga status.
Meyer has signed a two-year deal with the Violas.
Another young coach for the Violas
Meyer’s background is in youth coaching, mostly recently with Köln. He was in charge of their youth department for two years, and also took responsibility for the under-19s in January, after previous coach Stefan Ruthenbeck took control of the first team.
He has also held roles at Motor Eberswalde, FC Strausberg, Energie Cottbus and Hallescher FC, the latter two also seeing him working with young players, whilst he also completed his UEFA Pro Licence in 2015.
He will be looking to follow in the footsteps of both Drews and, the season before, now-Schalke 04 coach Domineco Tedesco in guiding Aue to 2. Bundesliga safety after scraps against relegation as a young, previously-unknown coach.
In the season just gone, they had to beat their way past Karlsruher SC in the play-off, eventually winning 3-1, before Drews’s resignation was announced a few days later.
Meyer impressed with new club
In a statement on Köln’s website, Meyer called the Aue role “a huge challenge that I really wanted to accept,” a request that Armin Veh, Köln’s Managing Director, was happy to abide to.
Meanwhile speaking at his unveiling on Thursday, Meyer said that he had been impressed by by the foundations at the club and the new stadium. He discussed his team too, admitting that “it is obvious we have to do something” with the club’s attack, especially after frontman Pascal Köpke’s departure to Hertha BSC earlier in the week.
Robin Lenk will remain as assistant to Meyer, as he has been with each of Aue’s previous four coaches, whilst Max Urwantschky will be Goalkeeping Coach and Werner Schoupa is Athletic Coach.
Quotes via 1. FC Köln and MDR.