03.01.2020
News-Archive

Eintracht sign Ragnar Ache

The Frankfurt native will join the Eagles from Sparta Rotterdam at the start of next season after signing a contract until 30 June 2025.

Born in Frankfurt to a Ghanaian mother and a German father, Ache took his first footballing steps at German minnows SpVgg 03 Neu-Isenburg before moving to Rotterdam for family reasons. After joining Sparta’s youth academy as a 12-year-old, he was handed his first professional contract on 29 April 2016 before making his Eredivisie debut almost 12 months later, on 4 April 2017.

After spending the following two seasons alternating between the first team and the reserves, the 1.87-metre frontman finally became a regular starter during the 2019/20 season. He played in 17 of Sparta’s 18 league games during the first half of the campaign, registering five goals and three assists to establish himself as the focal point of the Dutch side’s attack. Robust and strong in the air, Ache is also capable of operating on the left wing.

The promising youngster received his first call-up to the Germany Under-21s at the beginning of November, scoring two minutes after entering the fray as a second-half substitute in a 3-2 European Championship qualifying defeat to Belgium in Freiburg.

“For a player to regularly pledge his allegiance to Eintracht and his city of birth in public is not an everyday occurrence and shows how the player identifies with our objectives,” said board member Fredi Bobic. “Ragnar will add to our options in attack and make us more flexible. He has all the attributes to play an important role with us. To that end, we will give him all the opportunities and time he needs to adjust to Bundesliga level.”

Ache will remain a Sparta player until the end of the current season.