Christian Träsch wants to become president of his hometown club FC Ingolstadt.

Sometimes, says Christian Träsch, that happens: He meets a boy in his housing estate and asks him why he is wearing an FC Ingolstadt jersey. But the answer he, Träsch, gets is not one he wants to just leave at that. “It’s just a club in Ingolstadt” – that’s what he hears, says Träsch.

He thinks that he should actually see shining eyes. Ingolstadt is a sports-mad city, ice hockey is a big deal, and not so long ago the footballers were second-rate. But when Träsch talks to children now, it often makes him think. There is no enthusiasm, no shining, nothing. And wouldn’t it be best to see from children’s eyes if everything was going well at FC Ingolstadt?

When Träsch, 37, talks about the plans for a coup that he recently made public, he has just come from the physiotherapist. He may have ended his career a long time ago, but because he just can’t stop, he still plays for FC Gerolfing in the district league. Two weeks ago he injured himself in training, but now he has given the all-clear. He’ll be fine. At least his knee. But FC Ingolstadt? Will it be fine there too?

Something has to change, Träsch emphasises: “I’m from Ingolstadt. I was born here, I’ve always followed the club. FCI belongs to the city, just as I belong to the city. But we have the feeling that the club’s development is stagnating. That’s why it’s time for something new.” And the new thing is him: Christian Träsch, former player of TSV 1860 Munich, VfB Stuttgart, VfL Wolfsburg and, of course, FC Ingolstadt.

But it’s not just him. Träsch has put together a team with which he will challenge Peter Jackwerth, the founding father of the FCI, in the elections in November. He has joined forces with Stefan König, Nico Matheis, Michael Gaßner and Franz Spitzauer, experts from the legal system and the media and financial world. Träsch wants to take over the leadership of the association with them and usher in a new era.

Träsch is full of praise for President Jackwerth, but he still wants to succeed him with a new team

So they are big plans, but Träsch doesn’t formulate any pithy sentences, he just argues. He explains. He also deviates a few times in his explanations and names clubs that Ingolstadt could take as an example. Freiburg, for example. Or Heidenheim. But Träsch is not dreaming. He doesn’t say a single word about the Bundesliga. For him, FCI is a second division team – and, one could now say, the club is not that far away from that. Even if there were two recent defeats that put the good start to the season in the third division in a different light. But Träsch is not just interested in results. He is more interested in asking himself: What does FC Ingolstadt actually stand for? And why is it not clear whether the club means anything to the people in the city?

When Träsch looks at the analysis, he finds the first mistakes that were made when Ingolstadt was still playing in the Bundesliga. Between 2015 and 2017, the club was in the top division, but in Träsch’s opinion it lost its way and was too focused on a quick comeback after being relegated. Players came and went, coaches too, and in all of this, what actually defines FCI fell by the wayside: how it defines itself and how it wants to win people over.

If you ask Träsch about Jackwerth now, he is full of praise: “Without him, the club would not exist in this form. He founded FC Ingolstadt and led it into the first division. You have to say: Chapeau!” But now, after two decades under Jackwerth’s leadership, something different is needed, Träsch believes. Something that represents a new beginning. For more colour in a time when the club is rather grey.

At the end of the conversation – Träsch spoke at length about the old FCI and how he imagines it – he talks about his own playing days in Ingolstadt. He was relegated with the club and tore his cruciate ligament. They were difficult times, tough ones to be precise. But something still stuck: “My grandparents and my wife’s grandparents always came to the stadium back then. That was worth a lot.”

His grandparents have since passed away and he can no longer help out on the field, but Christian Träsch doesn’t want to just complain. He wants to change something, which is why he’s running in November. And then, if his plan works, he can himself bring that sparkle that he misses in the children’s eyes.