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Former Philadelphia Union and Eintracht Frankfurt goalkeeper Oka Nikolov will join the Union's technical staff as an assistant coach, the club said in a press release. Nikolov was signed by John Hackworth in 2013 as a backup to Zac MacMath, and didn't play a single game for the club before departing for the Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the NASL in 2014.
The Union have been without a goalkeeping coach since the team and Paulo Grilo mutually parted ways back in November. Grilo had joined the team as the personal coach of Rais M'Bolhi, but remained with the team after the departure of the Algerian goalkeeper.
Nikolov has spent the last year coaching with the Eintracht Frankfurt Development Academy, the Macedonian National Team and the German Under-19 squad. These assignments should serve Nikolov well as the Union look to develop their stable of young and talented goalkeepers. Nikolov had a long successful career in the German Bundesliga and will be a significant upgrade over goalkeeping coaches of the past.