Kaltenbach moves to Ajax

"Matze has developed into an outstanding football coach over his years with us and has done very good work in all sorts of different scenarios. He's always been a loyal team player and I still remember our early days at the TSG academy together very well. That makes it all the more difficult for us, and especially for me personally, to let him go now. But Matze has also taken a clear position and expressed his desire, so we've ultimately agreed to the move to this top European club," said TSG director of football Alexander Rosen. The move also serves as "further proof of the exceptional training at Hoffenheim, which not only produces special players but also coveted football experts at many levels," said Rosen, who is working in close cooperation with Hoffenheim's new head coach André Breitenreiter to fill the vacant position in the TSG coaching team.

"After 11 years, I'm leaving TSG and our fans with a heavy heart," said Kaltenbach. "But Ajax is not only a unique professional challenge for me; it was the club I admired in my youth as a fan too. That's why I'm very grateful to Hoffenheim for giving me the chance to work alongside Alfred at Ajax – one of the biggest clubs in Europe."

Aged 26, the Freiburg native moved to Hoffenheim in the summer of 2011 to be an assistant coach for the U19 team. Kaltenbach, who previously also played for SC Freiburg, later assisted Julian Nagelsmann, among others, with the U19s, with whom the duo became German champions in 2014. After Nagelsmann's promotion to first-team head coach in February 2016, Kaltenbach moved up into the head coach role himself for the first time. Under his leadership, the U19s defended the South German championship and finished as German runners-up. He then joined TSG's Bundesliga team as Nagelsmann's assistant and stayed in the role under Alfred Schreuder and Sebastian Hoeness. In the summer of 2020, he was part of the interim coaching team that – after the departure of Schreuder – secured a Europa League spot thanks to a thrilling season run-in culminating in a 4-0 win in Dortmund on the final day. Kaltenbach is also currently working on his football coaching license.