Coaching duo Feifel/Dünker: Here to stay

With a gentle step and in his calm way, Achim Feifel enters the training ground together with Jacqueline Dünker. The coaching duo set up cones equally spaced on the pitch with great precision for the first running drill. Then there is a warm welcome for his team, clear directions for the forthcoming session and then it can start. The new head coach of the Bayer 04 Women is not only calm and collected on the pitch and his composure is his trademark. "I describe myself as pragmatic. It's very important to me to be genuine and to never put on an act," declared Feifel. He started his career as a coach in women's football at the age of 27 as a sports teacher in Württemberg. "It was a long development process. I was given a women's team to look after and I enjoyed it so much that I was sure I wanted to coach a women's team in the future."

For his first job, the football coach and qualified sports teacher from Schwäbisch Gmünd in Baden-Württemberg had to move to the north of country to join Hamburg SV. "When the offer came I said to myself: It's a completely new challenge and you have to give it a go." Feifel was responsible for the HSV Women’s team for a total of seven years from 2005 to 2012. A commitment that – as he says himself – he might still have been making today if Hamburg had not withdrawn their women's team from the Bundesliga in 2012. One thing was certain for Feifel after that: "I want to carry on as a coach and take on a new challenge."

He found that very quickly. Less than three months later, the current Bayer 04 coach was at the helm of the Russian champions and Champions League team WFC Rossiyanka. "The conatct to Russia was made via my agent. It was all pretty much an adventure I had to make up my mind quickly. We met with the Rossiyanka management in Riga to discuss terms and it was all completed soon after that," said Feifel. "WFC are not just a top club in Russia but also in Europe. The team was full of foreign players." Shortly after taking over, Rossiyanka beat ADO Den Haag 4-1 in their first Champions League game. "We even made it to the quarter-finals but then went out to the eventual winners VFL Wolfsburg."

Valuable experience

Even though the Russia chapter was over for the father of two after five months, Feifel is happy to look back at that time and not just because of the football. "I picked up a lot of experience there that helped me develop. Before that I would never necessarily have had the confidence to do the job in another country. That gave me a lot of strength." The 55-year-old went on to be assistant coach at the Women's Bundesliga club Turbine Potsdam before returning to look after the youth section at Hamburg SV where he was the technical director as well as the individual and assistant coach for the men's U16 team.

In contrast to many of his colleagues, Feifel has coached both women's and men's teams. "I don't see such a big difference," he said. The training set-up is really similar with the biggest difference definitely being in the intensity." On the training ground he is assisted by Jacqueline Dünker, known as Jacky, an experienced, former Bayern 04 player who Feifel is keen to praise. "With Jacky, you can see that she's worked as a coach over the past few years. She certainly knows her stuff and we are very good together as a team. Jacky used to be a player which provides another perspective and I like that."

After three years at Bayer 04, Dünker moved on to Herforder SV in Bundesliga Division Two and then the Bundesliga team FSV Gütersloh. While she was a player there, she became assistant coach for the U17 women's team before taking charge in 2015. In 2017, Dünker was head coach of the women's team of SC Bad Neuenahr in the Regional League South West. The fact she is once again an assistant at Bayer 04 is not a backward step for her. "Achim has loads of experience as a coach and I can learn a lot from him. For example, how it works in terms of technique and tactics and the way he keeps changing the way he plans and implements the sessions. Often he comes up with special drills out of thin air. At moments like that he has an incredible calm," said the project manager of an IT firm who sees parallels between her two jobs. "You're responsible for making sure the group is in good spirits and everybody is working towards a major target," said the woman from Euskirchen.

"Carry on being more professional"

For their time together under the Bayer Cross, Feifel and Dünker are pursuing clear targets. "I don't just want to help each individual player progress in their development but also help shape the environment over the long term. It's about wanting to carry on being more professional and successful on the pitch at the same time," declared the head coach. Dünker agrees with that sentiment. An uncertain campaign like last term's where the Bayer 04 Women only avoided relegation right at the end of the season is to be avoided this time round.

Wins against highly rated opponents like the 1-0 at home in the opening game against SC Freiburg and the 2-1 victory at Bayer Munich in the middle of September have strengthened that resolve. "I hope Achim and I can continue working together as long as possible here at Bayer 04," said his assistant coach. Achim Feifel and Jacqueline Dünker – they are here to stay!

Maurice Hossinger