Why Karlsruhe chose Maximilian Senft
Karlsruhe appointed Maximilian Senft in May 2026 with a clear idea of the football it wanted to develop. After more than six years under Christian Eichner, the club chose a coach whose record combined assistant work, promotion, and a season establishing SV Ried in Austria's top flight. His earlier poker career made him an unusual appointment in some ways, but sporting director Mario Eggimann's explanation centred on his training methods, development work, and approach to football.
The league's appointment report identified Senft as a former poker player and traced his subsequent work with Thomas Letsch and Gerhard Struber. Poker had offered a different kind of competition before his move into coaching: players compete against one another around a physical table or online. At Karlsruhe, that earlier occupation sat alongside a substantial football CV.
Online real money poker in Australia includes cash games and tournaments, two formats of player-against-player competition. The setting and format are separate: a tournament can take place online or at a physical table in Australia, depending on player preferences. Senft's own poker experience preceded his work on football coaching staffs and his later responsibility for Ried's first team, but learning how to read people well and handle uncertain information has undoubtedly stood him in good stead throughout his career, and many poker skills are surprisingly transferable. Karlsruhe's assessment focused on those coaching jobs, the results, and the work behind them.
A coaching record that matched the job
Senft took charge of Ried's first team in March 2023. He subsequently led the club to promotion, then a seventh-place finish in the Austrian Bundesliga. Karlsruhe could assess his work across two different stages of a team's development: reaching a higher division and establishing a place within it.
Eggimann said Karlsruhe had drawn up a clear profile at the start of its search and held several in-depth discussions. The sporting director described a coach who combined modern training methods, clear development, and proactive football. He also emphasised personality and working style, explaining the appointment through the approach Senft would bring to the job as well as his previous achievements.
Eggimann also drew attention to the work behind those finishes. “He has demonstrated that he can not only generate short-term success but also stabilise it through daily work,” he said. He credited Senft's coaching team with helping Ried establish itself in the top division after promotion.
The squad and systems of summer 2026
Eichner had been in charge since February 2020, so the appointment also ended a long period of continuity in the dugout. His final game was a 2-1 home defeat to Bochum. Senft was taking over a club accustomed to one head coach while also preparing to work with a substantially altered squad.
Karlsruhe's previous season helps explain the scale of the task. As Bulinews' 2026/27 preview recorded, KSC finished tenth with 44 points from 34 matches. Only five teams scored more than their 54 goals, but only Greuther Fürth conceded more than their 64. Their goal total also exceeded that of champions Schalke.
Karlsruhe had an attack to build on and a defensive record to improve. Those figures came from Eichner's final season, before Senft began working with the squad. The summer brought changes in personnel as well as formation, and Senft was preparing a group that was still being assembled.
David Herold left for Borussia Mönchengladbach, with Deniz Ofli and Viktor Bergh arriving to cover left-back. Ofli joined on loan from Bayern Munich, while Bergh arrived from Djurgården. Tim Civeja came from Saarbrücken and Kevin Wiethaup from Osnabrück, adding further midfield options.
Midfielders Nicolai Rapp and Philipp Förster had also departed, leaving changes to absorb in the centre of the team alongside the reshaping of its defence and the switch in coach.
Senft was therefore finding an arrangement for a changing group. During pre-season, Karlsruhe used a 4-2-3-1 against Inter before switching to a 4-4-2 diamond for the final friendly against Hoffenheim. Marvin Wanitzek remained central to the plans, providing continuity amid the changes around him.
A formation identifies the starting arrangement, while a playing approach also concerns what the team does within it. Karlsruhe's preference for proactive football left decisions to be made about positions and combinations. The different systems belonged to summer preparation, when Senft was testing arrangements with the players available, rather than establishing a fixed description of the season ahead.
