Marco Grote will take over responsibility for the Bundesliga team of 1. FC Union Berlin as interim coach with immediate effect. Together with current assistant coach Marie-Louise Eta and Sebastian Bönig as assistants, the 51-year-old will prepare the team for the upcoming away match against 1. FC Köln on Saturday. Nenad Bjelica and his coaching team were released today, Monday.

"I'm looking forward to the task and am convinced that we'll manage to avoid relegation,” said Grote on the challenges he and his team will face. “I know our team well and know that if we join forces we are capable of picking up the necessary points."

"In the fight to stay in the Bundesliga, we need to draw on the strength of the entire club and, of course, that of our squad. We trust Marco Grote and his team to lead our players back to their highest levels of performance to make the remaining games until the end of the season a success," explained Union President Dirk Zingler on the decision. "I would like to thank Nenad Bjelica and his team for the work they have done. They have succeeded in stabilising the team in an extremely difficult situation, with the result that we have the power to stay in the league on our own." 

"We are giving our team fresh impetus once again. I am absolutely convinced that the players want to stay in the Bundesliga with Union. We want to give them our full support and are relying on a coaching team that knows our club inside out and is passionate about this task," said Oliver Ruhnert, director of men's professional football at 1. FC Union Berlin, on the decision. "We wish Nenad Bjelica and his co-coaches all the best and every success, both professionally and personally."

Grote, who has been in charge of Union's U19s in the A-Junior Bundesliga since July 2022, had already taken over the Bundesliga squad on an interim basis in November, and broke the team's losing streak in the league with a 1-1 draw against FC Augsburg.

Eta had already worked with Grote as assistant coach at the A-Juniors of 1. FC Union Berlin and most recently supported Nenad Bjelica's team as assistant coach.

Sebastian Bönig most recently worked with Union's loan players after taking some time out. He is now returning to the training pitch as assistant coach in Marco Grote's team.