Jérôme Reisacher’s fascinating journey: Trained with Pizarro, matures at Bayern

When Jérôme Reisacher, head coach of FC Bayern Women’s reserves team, talks about football, his hands start to move. They paint movements in the air, like a goalkeeper reliving a save. At the same time, his eyes light up. He recalls his days at Werder Bremen, when he played alongside Claudio Pizarro, Marko Marin, Per Mertesacker and Sandro Wagner during in a trial training. Of Felix Kroos and a young Niclas Füllkrug, who laced up their boots in the same dressing room. “That was a special time,” he says. “You learn what it means to be a professional and also what it takes to get there.”

Previously, at Freiburg, he had the opportunity to train daily with players such as Julian Schuster and Jonathan Schmid. His coach at the time was a certain Christian Streich. He also learned from Markus Sorg, now Hansi Flick's assistant coach, as well as Thomas Wolter at Bremen and François Keller at Strasbourg. They all influenced him, each in their own way. Much of what Reisacher passes on today on the training ground bears traces of these experiences.

A child of Alsace

Reisacher grew up in Bischwiller, a small town not far from Strasbourg, surrounded by half-timbered houses and fields, where France gently merges into Germany. Football did not come from home. “My parents had nothing to do with sport,” he says. It was friends at school who got him hooked. Foam balls, breaks, improvised goals. “We just played for hours. At some point, a friend took me to his club. That's how it all started.”

He experienced his first big game as a spectator: Racing Strasbourg against Monaco. It was the first time he had seen a stadium, the roar, the flags, the chants. In goal that day was Fabien Barthez - World and European champion, a French icon. “I was fascinated by him,” Reisacher recalls. “That calmness, that craziness. He was different from everyone else. That's when I decided I wanted to be a goalkeeper.” The ball, the line, the last man. He liked that.

He started out at local clubs before FC Herrlisheim took him on. A year later, he joined the Strasbourg youth academy – boarding school, school lessons, training twice a day. “Suddenly, everything was serious. I was far away from my family, tired, but happy.” Here he learned what discipline means. At 18, he decided to move to Germany, more specifically to Freiburg.

There, he played under Streich, whose attitude shaped his understanding of leadership. “He was loud, passionate, demanding but always human.” Reisacher trained with players such as Oliver Baumann, Jonathan Schmid, Nicolas Höfler, Alexander Schwolow and Daniel Caligiuri. “It was a school for life, not just for technique.” However, the competition was fierce, so he packed his bags again to head north to Werder.

His teammates there included Felix Kroos and Füllkrug. Every now and then, he also trained with the first team alongside the likes of Naldo. “A wild bunch – ambitious, loud, full of energy.” But then a knee injury stopped him in his tracks. Six months of rehab, doubts, fruitless discussions. “That's when you realise how quickly it can all be over.” But Reisacher fought his way back, playing for Havelse, Baunatal and Trier. He even played in goal for the latter against Freiburg in the DFB Cup in 2014. “I knew the guys, the coach, and suddenly I was on the other side. It was very emotional, but also nice.”

New direction and joy in teaching

He finally found stability at his last professional club, Bahlinger SC: playing, training in food wholesale, full-time work, training in the evenings. At the same time, he began coaching goalkeepers. “I realised that I enjoyed not being the centre of attention myself, but helping others to improve.” With Dennis Bührer, his good friend, as coach Bahlingen finally made it into the fourth tier. “We were young, hungry, spent nights in the dressing room. That was football as I love it.“

And yet Reisacher's career was about to take another turn. In 2019, he received a call from Jens Scheuer, whom he knew from Bahlingen. Assistant coach for the Bayern women's team? Jérôme hesitated. He had a good life and a steady job. But football was calling him back. “My girlfriend said: If you go, I'll go with you.” In Munich, he learned how professional women's football works at the highest level: structures, processes, expectations. Everything precise, everything tightly scheduled. “Top-level football is not just about training, but about leadership, communication and trust.”

Reisacher worked as an assistant under Scheuer, and later under Alexander Straus. Even back then, he placed a special focus on developing young players who rotated between the first and second teams. Some of those he mentored made the leap. Alara Şehitler, Franziska Kett, Laura Gloning – players who have now reached the top tier of German football and who took their first steps with his help. “When I look at the Bundesliga in a few years and see, ‘Ah, I trained them’ – that's my goal,” says Jérôme. It doesn't sound like pride, more like pure joy.

Aspiration and everyday life

Reisacher is now head coach of the second team. It's a bridge between learning and the Bundesliga. Many players are 16, 17 or 18 years old, in the midst of school or training stress, but dreaming of professional football. “You see development every day. When a player implements something she has learned in training in a match, that's success for me. At the same time, every step in their personal development is very important to me.” Courage and confidence are key concepts for him. “If you want players to take risks, you have to give them security.” His training sessions are therefore clearly structured, but never rigid. “I try to create situations where they have to make decisions. That's the core of modern training: thinking independently.”

The league itself is full of contrasts: young talent versus experienced teams, high intensity, often limited resources. “You have to be creative. Conditions aren't always perfect, but you can develop a lot. We have talent, pace and courage. The task is to introduce them to professional football without overwhelming them.”

Trust, attitude, humility

Reisacher works closely with the first team. “When a player moves up, she needs to know what to expect – tactically, mentally, in terms of behaviour. That's our job. Building bridges.” Why does he love this job so much? “Because I can pass something on,” he says. “I've experienced how difficult it is to be close and still not quite make it. I want to show my players that success isn't just about titles.”

As a coach, he is loud, direct and passionate, but he can also be calm, analytical and patient. “I used to want to control everything. Today, I know that mistakes are part of the process. Without them, there’s no development.” He’s also found fulfilment in his private life. Shortly before taking up his position as head coach of the second team, he became a father. “Three weeks apart. The greatest happiness ever.” The long working days are put into perspective when his son comes toddling towards him.

An up-and-coming coach

On the sidelines, he directs, guides and encourages. For him, movement, responsibility and relationships lie between the lines. “I see myself as a companion. My job is to give the players tools. The rest is up to them.” The second division is a learning environment – for his players and for him. “You never stop learning,” he says. Patience, experience and passion have shaped him since his school days. His path has never been straight: “I've experienced everything myself – injuries, waiting, conversations when you're not in the squad. That's why I can understand my players.”

Today, Jérôme stands at the edge of the training ground, observing, correcting, silent. You can sense that he is thinking about the goalkeeper from back then, about the training grounds in Bremen, Strasbourg and Freiburg. All of this has shaped him into a coach who knows that success is not measured in league tables, but in people who grow.

FC Bayern Women host Arsenal at the Allianz Arena in November: