Intrigue against their own coach? Nightmare start rocks chaotic club Fortuna Düsseldorf | Goal.com
Almost 20,000 season tickets sold, 20 new players, some with plenty of Bundesliga experience: after the biggest disaster imaginable in May, the shock relegation to the 3. Liga, Fortuna Düsseldorf were close to euphoria just a few days ago.
Two defeats to start the season, against Waldhof Mannheim and TSG Hoffenheim's second team, have now turned that into sheer dismay again. The 2-0 defeat to the Kraichgau reserve side on Saturday in particular left the club in a state of shock.
Saturday's disastrous display from the newly assembled side reminded many fans of the dreadful performances produced by a squad that was certainly talented on paper but completely dysfunctional, and which ultimately bore responsibility for the dramatic relegation.
Just how short the fuse is among Düsseldorf supporters, scarred by the recent past, became clear after only around 140 minutes of the season. During the ARD Sportschau radio broadcast of Saturday's first home game of the season, a Fortuna fan could already be heard in the background at half-time repeatedly calling for coach Alexander Ende to be sacked. "Ende out!" rang out to listeners. And that view is apparently not limited to one anonymous Fortuna fan.
On Sunday, after the abysmal home opener against Hoffenheim's reserve side, Bild followed up with an explosive report. There is now said to be a so-called "Funkel faction" within the club that is supposedly "vigorously" sawing away at Ende's chair internally. The background is this: when Fortuna finally parted ways last season with the highly unsuccessful coach Markus Anfang, then sporting director Sven Mislintat appointed the 46-year-old Ende and handed him a two-year contract.
By doing so, he evidently went against the wishes of parts of the supervisory board, whose conduct had already been highly questionable, and who would have preferred to bring back coaching icon Friedhelm Funkel as a firefighter, despite the fact he had effectively fallen from favour with the Düsseldorf support. Funkel coached Düsseldorf from 2016 to 2020, oversaw Fortuna's most recent promotion to the Bundesliga and kept them there in the 2018/19 season with an impressive 10th-place finish.
The relationship between Funkel and the sporting leadership began to crumble in the following season. Only a few weeks after Funkel's contract extension in December 2019, the club dismissed the coaching legend. Funkel then ended his career with forceful words. "I will no longer work as a coach because Fortuna Düsseldorf have given me so much. Because I don't believe I can have such a wonderful time again at another club," he said at the time on ZDF's Aktuelles Sportstudio.
A year later, though, Funkel returned to coaching and, of all clubs, kept 1. FC Köln up in spring 2021. That was an affront to the Düsseldorf fan scene. In 2024 he led 1. FC Kaiserslautern to the cup final as interim coach and kept the Red Devils in the 2. Liga, before once again being hired as a firefighter in Cologne and securing Bundesliga promotion in 2025.
Even with that history, another return for Funkel as saviour was very much on the agenda in April. Funkel himself confirmed an "unofficial" approach from the club in June: "I was asked whether I would be willing to take over as Markus Anfang's successor," Funkel revealed a few months ago on the talk format "Bit im Büdchen": "Then I said: yes, I would do it, because I was convinced that we - the coaching staff, the team, me and the fans - would manage to stay in the 2. Liga."
Mislintat brought in Ende instead, and he did not prevent relegation. Now Mislintat is long gone, with Samir Arabi overseeing sporting affairs at the fallen traditional club. For a while, things really did seem to be looking up.
Arabi, battle-hardened by crisis, gave Ende a squad for the new season that is actually tailor-made for the ideas of the former successful Preußen Münster coach. He signed three former Münster players in Marcel Benger, Yassine Bouchama and Jorrit Hendrix, all of whom have long internalised Ende's system, and complemented them, by 3. Liga standards, with top transfers such as Philipp Förster, Fabian Schleusener, Dominique Heintz and Andreas Müller.
The start to the season has nevertheless gone completely wrong, and Ende certainly played his part with some questionable starting XI decisions. The back four that had been bedded in during pre-season have not been on the pitch together once. In Mannheim for the opener, the convincing Felix Meiser was suddenly on the bench, as were bright spots such as pre-season winner Elias Arden. At left-back, the at times completely overmatched Kaden Amaniampong was allowed to play the full game, while regular first-choice player Sascha Risch stayed on the bench. According to the club, the new signing from Dresden is currently dealing with a difficult situation that is not sporting in nature.
Then, against Hoffenheim, Ende fielded Steven van der Sloot as a makeshift left-back, and on the wrong side as a right-footer he turned in a remarkably weak display. At the same time, Ende demoted Heintz, who had actually been signed as a leader, taking him off after only 45 minutes in Mannheim and then leaving him on the bench a week later for the first home game.
Right now, almost nothing is working at the newly formed Fortuna. He told the team directly after the deserved defeat to Hoffenheim that they had "come together with a very clear idea", the frustrated Ende said on Saturday: "There was nothing to be seen of that idea today and we have to ask ourselves what the steps are that we are now going to initiate."
Meanwhile, the so-called "Funkel faction" will be watching those steps with eagle eyes. For now, according to Bild, it is still in a losing position within the club. Ende is by no means under threat. Those in charge around Arabi are instead said to have noted the anti-Ende sentiment at such an early stage of the season "with astonishment". The paper reports that rumours were already being spread during the game against Hoffenheim that Ende would be dismissed in the event of another defeat. On top of that, internal matters from the dressing room were allegedly leaked.
Bild speaks of a "poisonous atmosphere" that is anything but conducive to the success of the newly assembled team. The Düsseldorf fans also played their part in that "poisonous atmosphere" on Saturday. When the team went over to the stand after the bitter disappointment, the fans immediately sent them away again.
Some supporters who cannot be assigned to the active scene even went a step further and sang clearly audibly: "Oh how beautiful it is!" That too sums up chaotic Fortuna in 2026, where their own fans have turned to mocking gallows humour after only two games.
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