Frank Engel has been with the German Football Association (DFB) since January 2006 but has long experience coaching at this level. Although a promising player with former East German side FC Chemie Leipzig, Engel's career was cut short by chronic back pain. At the age of 25 he was employed as a coach by the East German Football Association and the likes of Matthias Sammer, Ulf Kirsten and Thomas Doll came under his wing. Notably he led his nation to third place at the 1986 UEFA European Under-16 Championship in Spain, beating Holger Osieck's West Germany for bronze.
After the Berlin wall came down, Engel's coaching career took him to Busan Daewoo Royals in Korea Republic and third division teams in eastern Germany before he stepped up a division to FC Carl Zeiss Jena for a six-month spell in 1997. In 1999 he worked as assistant to Jörg Berger at Eintracht Frankfurt before taking over at FC Rot-Weiss Erfurt the following year. In 2002 he worked under Berger at TSV Alemannia Aachen but after the second division team reached the German Cup final he left the club, though later had a spell at FC Hansa Rostock until August 2005.
The following January Engel joined the DFB on a contract until December 2008 and was put in charge of the U18 team, moving up with them to qualify for the 2007 UEFA European U19 Championship finals. On his appointment DFB president Theo Zwanziger explained: "We were looking for a coach who was educated in the former GDR because we want to add their experiences to our youth development. I am convinced Engel is an ideal addition to our coaching staff."
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