Toni Mandl will take charge of 1. FC Union Berlin's U19 squad for the remainder of the season.

Mandle was the assistant coach of the U19 Bundesliga side and will take over from Willi Weiße who has stepped down for personal reasons. Former Union player Christian Stuff will now support the team as Mandl's right-hand man.

"Willi Weiße made his decision for personal reasons, which we of course respect. Toni Mandl knows the team very well and now continues the work seamlessly. We wish him lots of success," said Andre Hofschneider, the head of coaching at the Union youth academy.

Preparation for second half of the season:

While Leo Oppermann, Maurice Opfermann Arcones and Laurenz Dehl trained with the first-team in Spain, the rest of the squad has started to prepare for the second half of the U19 Bundesliga campaign. 

On the first weekend of 2019, the squad took part in two renowned indoor tournaments: the Arxes-Tonila Cup in Eberswalde and the Berlin Regio-Cup at the Max-Schmeling-Halle. Last weekend, the U19s ran out 4-3 winners against Blau-Weiß 90 before beating SV Empor Berlin 2-0 on January 16.

Union return to U19 Bundesliga action against VfL Osnabrück on February 3, but some scheduling changes are possible.