Oliver Kirch succeeds Mitch Kniat as Arminia Bielefeld head coach
Oliver Kirch has been named the new head coach of Arminia Bielefeld, joining from Borussia Mönchengladbach’s reserves to succeed Mitch Kniat at the Schüco-Arena.
Kniat had stood down at the end of the 2025/26 season after three years in charge, which included promotion to Bundesliga 2 and a remarkable run to the DFB Cup final in 2025.
Arminia have now moved to appoint 43-year-old Kirch, a former midfielder who had three seasons on the books at Bielefeld in a career that included stints at Gladbach, Kaiserslautern, Borussia Dortmund and Paderborn before retirement in 2016.
“I’m delighted that we’ve been able to bring in Oliver and convince him of our path. Our goal wasn’t to find the quickest but the correct solution. Our talks showed that he stands for brave, intense and attacking football, while he has already proven in his coaching career that he can develop young players at a high level,” said Arminia’s managing director Michael Mutzel of the appointment.
Kirch added of his decision to join: “After the talks with Michael, it was immediately clear to me that I want to take the next step in my career at Arminia Bielefeld. We have a similar approach to football and want to stabilise the team in Bundesliga 2. Arminia has developed in a really positive way. I now want to build on that at my former club.”
After hanging up his boots, Kirch returned to Bielefeld in 2018 as assistant for the reserves before working in the academy until taking over Hamburg’s U19s in 2021. Two years later he moved to Gladbach, having 18 months in charge of their U19s before stepping up to the reserves in January.
Bielefeld finished 13th in Bundesliga 2 last season, having gained promotion to the second tier in 2024/25. Kirch’s first game in charge will be on the weekend of 7-9 August when the 2026/27 campaign resumes. The fixture lists will be announced on 2 July.
