Highly rated Enrico Maaßen becomes new Borussia Dortmund U23s trainer

Borussia Dortmund have announced that Enrico Maaßen will become the new U23s’ trainer, starting from next season.

Maaßen is considered to be one of the most promising coaching talents in Germany, and recently led SV Rödinghausen to first place in the Regionalliga West (the fourth tier of German football). The 36 year old has signed a two year contract with Borussia Dortmund, and will succeed Mike Tullberg, who will take charge of the U-19s from next season.

The decision to appoint Maaßen comes two weeks after Michael Skibbe left the club. Borussia Dortmund had previously announced that Tullberg and Skibbe would swap roles at the end of the season, with the latter taking over the U-23s. There were reports that the BVB bosses were unhappy with the work Skibbe had done in charge of the U-19s.

Maaßen, who once described Lucien Favre as his role model, was wanted by a number of other clubs as well. And Borussia Dortmund youth coordinator Lars Ricken described him as “the desired candidate”.

"“He (Maaßen) is a coach who, despite his young age, has done an outstanding job at his two previous posts,” Ricken said. “With him for the U23s and Mike Tullberg for the U19s, we have done an excellent job of filling the transition area to the Bundesliga”"

Maaßen said that he is looking forward to working with Borussia Dortmund’s talented young players.

"“I am very happy to become coach at a big club like Borussia Dortmund. It is an exciting task to work with many talented young players and I hope that we will have a very successful cooperation”."

In his first season in charge of SV Rödinghausen, Maaßen helped them eliminate second division side Dynamo Dresden in the first round of the DFB Pokal, before they suffered only a narrow 2-1 defeat to Bayern Munich. This season, they played out a 3-3 draw with Paderborn, before tasting defeat on penalties.

Maaßen made the decision to leave SV Rödinghausen, after they decided not to accept promotion to the third tier due to financial reasons. Wuppertaler SV U19s trainer Pascal Bieler will join Maaßen as his assistant coach.