Their paths crossed for the first time 25 years ago. Now Hoffenheim’s manager and his former youth coach have come together again.
At that time still an assistant coach at FC Zurich – now a scout at TSG Hoffenheim: Alfons Higl (right).
imago images / Geisser
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At that time it was the first coaching station of the former professional Alfons Higl. After his active career as a central defender at FC Augsburg, SC Freiburg, 1. FC Köln and Fortuna Köln, the native of Aindlinger took over the A-Juniors of FC Augsburg. In their ranks two current managers: Alexander Rosen from TSG Hoffenheim and Michael Mutzel from Hamburger SV.
15 years later, Higl returned to the youth field after his positions as coach of FC Augsburg and twice as assistant coach in Wolfsburg and once at VfB Stuttgart. Rosen, who was now in charge of the TSG youth academy, steered his ex-coach to Hoffenheim, where Higl trained the U19s.
Mutzel also brought Rosen to TSG, where he initially worked as a youth coach and later, after Rosen’s promotion to the pros, took over his job as head of the academy, after a stint as sports director in Fürth, headed the Hoffenheim scouting department before he left HSV in 2019 . Meanwhile, Higl was active in various roles and clubs. As an assistant coach at VfB Stuttgart, as a scout at SC Freiburg, as a coach at Bahlinger SC and most recently as an assistant coach at FC Zurich, where Ludovic Magnin, André Breitenreiter’s predecessor, assisted.
After that it became quiet around Alfons Higl. But the 57-year-old is now under contract again, again with TSG Hoffenheim. Rosen and Higl quietly found each other for the third time, TSG never officially announced the personnel. But as kicker learned, Higl has been on the road for the Kraichgau since last November as a scout and squad planner from the U17s to the U23s. The collaboration was initially intended as a mutual taster course for one season, but Higl has now extended it to 2023. With his experience, his contacts and his eye as a talent sifter, Higl should help to restore the substructure of TSG, which was recently publicly criticized by patron Dietmar Hopp, to its former class and importance.
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