Wunderwerk Complete
Sabrina Wittmann sits down for her final interview as manager.
AMSEL: Sabrina, 34 wins in 34 Bundesliga matches. DFB-Pokal winners. Champions League champions. Not a single loss, draw, or off day. A perfect treble season — the first in football history. How do you even begin to process that?
WITTMANN: (smiles softly) It’s surreal. You dream about seasons like this, but even in your wildest dreams, perfection feels out of reach. I’ve had incredible years at this club, but this one… this was something divine. The players, the staff, the fans — we were all in sync. It was poetry.
AMSEL: And at the heart of that poetry — Marlon Engel. A hat-trick in the Champions League Final. 93 goals in all competitions. He’s broken Lionel Messi’s all-time single-season record. What do you say about a player like that?
WITTMANN: Marlon is a phenomenon. I’ve worked with world-class talent before, but Marlon… he’s from another planet. His game intelligence, his movement, his finishing — sure, those are elite. But what really separates him is his mentality. He hates being second-best. This season, he didn’t just want to break records. He wanted to end arguments. And I think he did.
AMSEL: You’ve certainly ended a few arguments yourself. 11 Bundesliga titles. 7 Champions League trophies. 5 trebles. 8-time Manager of the Year. It feels like the question can no longer be avoided: are you the greatest football manager of all time?
WITTMANN: (pauses, then nods)
Yes. I say that with humility — because I have the deepest respect for Sir Alex Ferguson, Pep Guardiola, all the legends who paved the way. But look at the body of work. We didn’t just dominate — we elevated a club that was, frankly, never supposed to reach this level. No oil money. No history of success. We built everything from scratch. And we did it with conviction, with identity, and with total football.
AMSEL: So give us the rankings — your personal top three?
WITTMANN:
1.) Wittmann.
2.) Ferguson — for building dynasties and adapting across eras.
3.) Guardiola — for reimagining what the game could be.
They changed football. I perfected it.
AMSEL: What do you want the Wittmann legacy to be?
WITTMANN: That we never settled. That Ingolstadt became a symbol — of beauty, bravery, and belief. That players like Marlon Engel could rise and shine without needing a global badge on their chest. And that a woman could lead from the front in this game — not as a gimmick, but as the best to ever do it.
AMSEL: What’s next for you?
WITTMANN: Silence, maybe. Peace. I’ve given everything I had to this game. Now it’s time to live the part of life I sacrificed for so long. But football will always be home.
AMSEL: Sabrina, thank you — and congratulations. History will never forget this.
WITTMANN: Thank you. And neither will I.
[END OF INTERVIEW]
FC Ingolstadt are expected to rename their stadium “Wittmann Arena” later this summer. Marlon Engel is the overwhelming favorite for the Ballon d’Or. Wittmann’s name is already etched alongside football’s immortals — perhaps even above them.
R. Bardghji (VIL)
E. Vogel (FCI)
A. Bauer (FCI)