Markus Krösche takes stock | OneFootball

Eintracht’s board member for sport looks back on the 2024/25 campaign, discusses the latest on a number of players and praises the team’s “very good development”.

Markus Krösche on ...

… the 2024/25 season: “We qualified for the Champions League. Finishing third in the Bundesliga is an exceptional achievement and a historic way to end a season. The football this young team played was also superb. In Omar Marmoush, we lost a cornerstone of the side halfway through the season, but the way the team dealt with it was brilliant. We deservedly finished third and qualified for the Champions League. Getting knocked out of the DFB Cup so early on was very frustrating. We had a really good campaign in the Europa League but unfortunately lost out to Tottenham. We can all be proud of the way we performed in Europe.”

… Eintracht’s development in recent years: “It’s been a very long path and I’ve already been here four years now. Our development has been very good. We’ve got a very young team with a great deal of potential to progress further, and we want to keep the team together as far as possible. Having said that, everyone knows that we need to generate transfer fees. Now we’re going to be in the Champions League, which is the next level of competition. Our aim in the Bundesliga is always to qualify for Europe, that won’t change. Overall, we’ve got a really good mix between youth and experience and between physically gifted athletes and more technical players. I’m very happy. That’s how we’re approaching next season, and we’ll see where our limit is.”

… Hugo Ekitiké: “He’s developed really well, like many others, but he’s not finished yet. He’s at 50 or 60 percent of what he’s capable of. He’s still a young guy.”

… Robin Koch: “Robin has progressed unbelievably well with us. He’s a leader, a stabilising factor in our defence, and a reference point both on and off the pitch. He’s got back into the senior Germany squad with us. He’s a really important player for us and we’re delighted to have him. We want to extend his contract in the long term and are in discussions with him.”

… Elye Wahi: “He didn’t have an easy time of things in Marseille, and things didn’t go as planned for him before then either. He was superb in Montpellier and showed what he can do. He joined us at a time when there was a lot of pressure, but he was carrying a knock. He’s settled well now and has got used to the intensity of training and elsewhere. He’s a really good guy. He’s had a few months at Eintracht now and knows what’s what. He'll keep going in the summer.”

…Tuta: “We’re in discussions with regard to his future and a contract extension.”

… potential consequences of qualifying for the Champions League: “We’re not a Champions League club. We’ll be playing in the competition because we earned it and because the players and the coaching staff did an exceptional job. We’re very happy to be in the competition but we’re not going to start operating as if we’re in the Champions League regularly. Our transfer policy won’t change and we’ll continue to do things in a thought-out and calm manner.”  … his own future: “There will always be speculation but that doesn’t affect my work. The facts are clear. I extended my contract a year ago and have a contract until 2028. We’re continuing on this path, which we are absolutely confident in. It’s a good fit.”

… Eintracht Women’s season: “We met the expectations that were placed on us and that we set ourselves. We could maybe even have done a bit better. With a bit more luck in games we dominated but ended up losing, we could have overtaken Wolfsburg and finished as runners-up. But on the whole it was a very good campaign. Our players make up a big chunk of the senior Germany squad and we played good, attacking football.”