Andreas Zimmermann is a German former footballer who played as a defender. He began his career in his hometown of Berlin, before spending seven years playing for LR Ahlen, a team he later briefly managed.
Playing career
Zimmermann began his career with Hertha BSC in 1992, who signed him from local amateur club Spandauer BC. He made 27 appearances in the 2. Bundesliga in his first season, scoring three goals, and was an occasional member of the reserve team that reached the final of the DFB-Pokal. He scored in a quarter-final win over 1. FC Nürnberg, but didn't play in the final, which Hertha's reserve team lost against Bayer Leverkusen. Over the next two seasons, Zimmermann only made eighteen appearances for the Hertha first team, and in 1995 he crossed the city to join 1. FC Union Berlin, of the Regionalliga Nordost. A year later he signed for LR Ahlen, an ambitious team in the Regionalliga West, and helped them to promotion to the second tier in 2000, after a playoff victory over his old club Union Berlin. He made 60 appearances at this level, as Ahlen finished 6th and then 8th, before he left the club in 2002. He then spent a season each with Rot-Weiss Essen and SC Paderborn 07 in the Regionalliga Nord, but only made a total of 33 appearances, due in part to injury. He spent two seasons with 1. FC Kleve of the Oberliga Nordrhein, before signing for amateur side Siegfried Materborn in 2006.
Coaching career
Zimmermann ended his playing career in January 2007, when he returned to 1. FC Kleve as General Manager, but left the club after six months due to disagreements with the board. After a brief return to active football with amateurs Borussia Brand, he returned to LR Ahlen. now under the name of Rot-Weiss. He managed the reserves, and later the under-19 team, and in September 2009 he replaced Stefan Emmerling as manager. However, this was only to last a month: Zimmermann didn't have the correct coaching licences, and as the club were unable to get special dispensation from the Deutsche Fußball Liga, he was replaced by Christian Hock. He continued as assistant manager until Hock was sacked at the end of the 2009–10 season. In summer 2011, Zimmermann was appointed coach of the under-19 team of FC Ingolstadt 04, where he spent just over a year for leaving due to personal reasons. He was appointed as manager of Carl Zeiss Jena in September 2013. He was sacked by Jena seven months later.
