conference league
For Fehérvár coach Boris a circle closes in Cologne
Michael Boris, coach of Fehérvár FC visits the Cologne stadium. photo
© Roberto Pfeil/dpa
The experts in German football have known him for a long time, and Michael Boris is largely unknown to the general public. That could change today.
Today Michael Boris has come full circle. “That’s where my journey began,” said the German soccer coach of the Hungarian club Fehérvár FC in an interview with the “Kölnische Rundschau” when watching the game on August 1, 2009.
With the fifth division Germania Windeck, the native of Bottrop, who has to play with the Hungarian club Fehérvár FC today (8.30 p.m. / RTL) in the conference league playoffs at 1. FC Köln, lost 0: 5 against FC in the Cologne Arena Schalke 04. And after this first-round game in the DFB Cup, he asked Schalke coach Felix Magath in a joint interview “in front of the cameras if I could get an internship at Schalke”.
“Always flown a little under the radar”
Magath agreed. And things took their course. The internship was lengthened and lengthened, and finally, at the age of 34, Boris became the head coach of Schalke U23. But it was not the starting signal for a great career in Germany. From Schalke Boris went to the Sportfreunde Siegen, then to those from Lotte and finally to KFC Uerdingen. Then the German senior national coach for Hungary, Bernd Storck, was looking for a U19 head coach and the then DFB head trainer recommended Boris.
Thursday is now also an opportunity for him to draw attention to himself in his home country. “Of course I keep looking at Germany, because that’s my homeland,” he told the “Bonner Generalanzeiger”: “The Hungarian market is not so scouted in the field of trainers, so I’ve always flown a little under the radar.” When asked if that could change now, he said with a laugh: “That might be a possibility.”
Boris wants to enjoy game
The fact that Cologne of all places is the opponent in the playoffs has “two sides. On the one hand, it’s a difficult draw. On the other hand, it’s perfect for a German coach to get 1. FC Köln.” In the past few days, however, an unusual amount had hit him. “Since it became clear that Cologne is waiting, everything has become a bit more and faster,” said Boris: “But I’m enjoying it.”
Incidentally, he only met his Cologne colleague Steffen Baumgart for the first time almost a year ago. And that in an unusual benefit game between East Friesland and the GDR. Baumgart was a player in the GDR selection, Boris was assistant to coach Dieter Eilts at the East Frisians. “I lost,” Baumgart remembered the 3:8: “Clearly. So the first point went to him.”