First time at national level (2008–2015)
After finishing the first half of the first Bundesliga season in twelfth place, but then going eleven games without a win in the second half of the season and slipping to a relegation spot, Thorsten Fink was suspended on 21 April 2009. [10] On 5 April, the club had given him a job guarantee until the end of the season and supervisory board member Andreas Schleef said in an interview on 17 April that a change of coach no longer made sense at this point. Michael Wiesinger, who had previously coached the U23s, stepped in as interim head coach for a few days. Horst Köppel became the new head coach on 26 April, but the run of winless matches continued under him. Relegation was sealed on matchday 32 with a 1-0 home defeat against FC St. Pauli.
On 9 November 2009, Köppel was released after a home defeat against Wuppertal. Co-trainer Michael Wiesinger took over the training. At the end of the 2009/10 third division season, the team finished third and played in two relegation matches against Hansa Rostock. FCI won both games (1-0 at home, 2-0 in Rostock) and thus managed an immediate return to Bundesliga 2.
However, the start to the 2010/11 season was a clear failure. After eleven games, FC Ingolstadt finished bottom of the table with just four points. Following a 2:1 defeat against Energie Cottbus on matchday 11, coach Wiesinger and assistant coach Uwe Wolf were sacked. Benno Möhlmann was introduced as his successor on 7 November 2010, with Sven Kmetsch as his new assistant coach. Almost exactly one year later, the club parted ways with Möhlmann and his assistant coach. At this point, FC Ingolstadt was in 18th place in the table with just nine points from 14 games. Tomas Oral was presented as the new coach on 10 November. Together with him, Thomas Linke was introduced as the new sporting director.
After a mixed 2012/13 season overall, which ended in 13th place, Oral was dismissed on 28 May 2013. Marco Kurz, who had previously worked for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and had led 1. FC Kaiserslautern to the Bundesliga in 2010, was appointed as his successor for the 2013/14 season. However, after just nine match days and the seventh defeat - Ingolstadt was bottom of the table - the club parted company with Kurz on 30 September. [11] On 4 October 2013, he hired Austrian Ralph Hasenhüttl as the new head coach, who led Ingolstadt to 10th place. The second division club extended Hasenhüttl's contract until 2016 and on 19 October 2014, the team won 1-0 at FSV Frankfurt. This was the 18th consecutive away match without defeat, a feat that no other club had achieved in the 40-year history of the Bundesliga 2.Ingolstadt remained unbeaten away from home until matchday 14, a run of 19 matches.
Starting the 2014/15 season as outsiders, they won the second division championship at the end of the season and were promoted to the Bundesliga for the first time. On 11 July 2015, the club was awarded the Bavarian Sports Prize in the "Personal Prize of the Bavarian Minister President" category.
Bundesliga 2 and Bundesliga 3 (since 2017)
The 2017/18 season began with a 1-0 home defeat against Union Berlin. After two further defeats against Sandhausen and Regensburg, Walpurgis was dismissed. His successor was former professional footballer Stefan Leitl, who had already spent the last six years of his playing career in the service of FC Ingolstadt 04. After working their way up to fourth place and coming within a few points of the top three, the Schanzers slipped back into mid-table at the end of the season. As a result, they only finally secured their place in the league with a 2-0 win at Eintracht Braunschweig on matchday 33. After victories against TSV 1860 München and SpVgg Greuther Fürth, the team reached the round of 16 in the DFB Cup for the second time in the club's history, but was eliminated against the outsiders SC Paderborn from the 3rd football league.
The following year, the Schanzers were again knocked out of the cup by Paderborn, albeit in the first round. With just five points from six league games, the team fell far short of expectations in sporting terms. After a clear 6:0 defeat at VfL Bochum and a 0:1 at home against FC St. Pauli, coach Leitl was dismissed on 23 September 2018. Alexander Nouri was introduced as his successor. Despite the change of coach, the club was unable to turn its fortunes around and also parted ways with sporting director Angelo Vier on 23 October. The first point under Nouri was not scored until the 11th matchday at home against MSV Duisburg. On 26 November, after a 2-0 defeat against Dynamo in Dresden, Nouri was also sacked, leaving the team in last place in the table[28]. After youth coach Roberto Pätzold had coached the team in one match, Jens Keller was appointed as the new head coach before matchday 16. Keller was also unable to lead the team out of the bottom of the table and was replaced by Tomas Oral after matchday 27, when the team was bottom of the table.
Under Oral, the team won five of their last seven league games and moved up to 16th place in the table, which entitled them to take part in the relegation play-off against SV Wehen Wiesbaden. The first leg in Wiesbaden was won 2:1, but FCI lost the second leg 3:2 in front of their home crowd and were relegated to the 3rd division due to the away goals rule.
The team underwent a major shake-up for the 2019/20 season and the contracts of long-serving players such as Marvin Matip and Almog Cohen were not extended or were cancelled. Luxembourg's Jeff Saibene and his assistant Carsten Rump, a coaching duo who had already trained together at Arminia Bielefeld, joined the Schanzers. At the start of the season, they picked up ten points in four games and were top of the table. After temporarily slipping to eighth place in the table, they were able to work their way back up to second place behind fellow relegated team MSV Duisburg by the winter break. In the second half of the season, which was temporarily interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequently played to a close without spectators, they slipped back into mid-table and brought Tomas Oral to the Danube for his third spell in charge. Under him, the Schanzers were able to get back into the promotion race and reached fourth place with a 2-0 win at TSV 1860 München on the final matchday, which entitled them to relegation to the 2nd Bundesliga against 1. FC Nürnberg, as FC Bayern München U23, who were top of the table, were not eligible for promotion. After a 2-0 defeat in Nuremberg in the first leg and a 3-1 win at home in the second leg (Ingolstadt led 3-0 until the sixth minute of injury time before Nuremberg managed to score), promotion was narrowly missed due to the away goals rule. In the DFB Cup, the Schanzers were knocked out in the first round against second-division side 1. FC Nürnberg with a 1-0 defeat, while in the Bavarian Cup they were beaten on penalties by 1. FC Schweinfurt 05 in the round of 16. FC Ingolstadt again reached the promotion relegation play-offs in the following season 2020/21, winning 3-0 in the first match against second-bottom VfL Osnabrück. Despite a 3-1 defeat in the second leg, they returned to the Bundesliga 2 after two years in the third tier.
Following promotion, the club and Tomas Oral parted ways by mutual agreement. Roberto Pätzold, who had previously coached the A-Juniors, became the new head coach for the 2021/22 season. After one win, one draw and six defeats from the first eight league games, he was replaced by André Schubert in 17th place. FC Ingolstadt 04 also parted company with sporting director Florian Zehe. After eight games without a win in the league and a DFB Cup exit against Borussia Dortmund, Schubert was dismissed on 8 December 2021. His successor was Rüdiger Rehm, under whom the club finished the first half of the season in last place with seven points. Although performances improved in the second half of the season, relegation was certain on match day 31.
After the team was relegated to the 3rd division, CEO Peter Jackwerth said: "Our desire and will is to get promoted again straight away. We are putting the pressure on with the opportunities we have. But not in terms of time." While 20 players left, ten were signed and a number of A-junior players were also called up to the squad; the club also retained coach Rehm. At the winter break, FC Ingolstadt were level on points with third-placed SV Wehen Wiesbaden in fourth place, but ten points separated the "Schanzers" from league leaders SV Elversberg. Of 11 games after the winter break, FC Ingolstadt lost nine (including a 4-1 defeat to Wehen Wiesbaden), drew one and won one, before slipping to 12th place in the table. As a result, the club parted ways with Rüdiger Rehm after matchday 20 and replaced him with Italian Guerino Capretti, who had coached Ingolstadt's fellow relegated team Dynamo Dresden until spring 2022. Sports director Malte Metzelder also terminated his contract in mid-March 2023.
On 4 April, the "Schanzers" parted ways with coach Guerino Capretti after 62 days in office. He was replaced by Michael Köllner. FC Ingolstadt finished the 2022-23 third division season in eleventh place. At the beginning of May 2024, the club parted ways with Köllner during the 2023/24 season and replaced him with Sabrina Wittmann, who had previously coached the U19 team. FC Ingolstadt now has the first female head coach in German men's professional football. FC Ingolstadt managed to win the Bavarian State Cup for the first time in the club's history with its head coach Sabrina Wittmann by beating Würzburger Kickers 2:1 in the final.
