Bundesliga
From shadow coach to head coach: BVB relies on Sahin
Nuri Sahin (l) follows Edin Terzic and becomes the new BVB coach. Photo
© Federico Gambarini/dpa
BVB only needs one day to find a coach. After Edin Terzic’s retirement, his assistant Nuri Sahin will take over. He is planning without the most recent strongest professional.
A stable smell instead of reputation. Borussia Dortmund is once again relying on club proximity when filling the new coaching position – and will also be doing without leader Mats Hummels in the future. As the Champions League finalist announced, Nuri Sahin succeeds Edin Terzic and receives a contract until June 30, 2027.
Like his predecessor, the 35-year-old former BVB professional has little experience when he takes office, but is emotionally very close to the Bundesliga football club from the region. The fact that Hummels, another cult professional after Marco Reus, is leaving Dortmund, rounds off the upheaval at BVB.
“We are convinced that Nuri is the right coach for us. He has worked hard over the past few years to prepare for a coaching career, will take on his new role with great dedication and will continue to develop our team,” said the new sporting director Lars Ricken, commenting on the promotion of Terzic’s previous assistant. “Nuri knows the club, its employees and the BVB DNA both as a player and as an assistant coach.”
The search for a new coach was much easier for the fifth-placed Bundesliga team than it was for FC Bayern. Since his return to Dortmund in January, Sahin has been considered Terzic’s shadow coach, who had asked the fifth-placed team from last season to immediately terminate his contract, which was due to run until 2025, the day before. Sahin never made a secret of his ambitions to work as head coach at his favorite club at some point. “From day one, we will do everything we can with a lot of energy and great passion to achieve the maximum possible success,” he announced.
With a lot of passion for difficult tasks
Like his predecessor, who was born in Menden, the Lüdenscheid native comes from near Dortmund. He also enjoys a lot of credit with the fans after 274 competitive games (26 goals) in the black and yellow jersey. Sahin gained his first experience as a coach in the professional sector from 2021 to 2023 at the Turkish first division club Antalyaspor.
The director of the 2011 championship team is immediately faced with a huge challenge. Together with Ricken, sports director Sebastian Kehl and squad planner Sven Mislintat, the 52-time Turkish international, who played for BVB, Real Madrid, Liverpool FC, Werder Bremen and Antalyaspor in his professional career, is expected to contribute to a squad restructuring. “Thanks to his natural authority and expertise, he has very good access to our team and knows what we need to work on together,” praised Kehl.
The aim is for Borussia to return to more attractive attacking football. One of the planned new signings is said to be Stuttgart striker Serhou Guirassy, with whom BVB is reportedly in promising negotiations.
Looking for a new team hierarchy
Much will depend on how Sahin manages to create a new hierarchy in the team. Reus and Hummels leave big gaps. Like the attacker, the 35-year-old defensive leader will not receive a new contract. With outstanding games, he played a major role in BVB reaching the Champions League final last season. The 0-2 defeat in the final at Wembley Stadium against Real Madrid on June 1st marked the end of the 2014 world champion’s BVB career. He has not yet revealed what will happen to Hummels. Various Italian clubs are reportedly interested.
“Dear fans, my time in black and yellow is now coming to an end after a total of over 13 years. It was a huge honour and joy for me. This club and its fans are something very special – and for me even more than that,” Hummels was quoted as saying in a statement.
Interview at the wrong time
His inopportune interview in the “Sport Bild” shortly before the Champions League final against Real Madrid (0:2), in which Hummels criticized Terzic’s work, was not well received by the management and may have had a significant influence on the decision. The departure of the previous head coach does not change that.
In view of these headlines, Hummels could not resist making a critical statement: “Don’t believe everything you’ve read in the last few days. There were a lot of untruths and half-truths.” The “impersonal farewell” made him sad: “The influence of a 35-year-old player who doesn’t know how his career will continue from the summer onwards was certainly not as great as the media sometimes makes it out to be.”
Born in Bergisch Gladbach, he was trained in the youth team of FC Bayern and made his professional debut there in 2007. He was loaned to Dortmund in January 2008, and BVB bought him outright in the summer of 2009. Hummels won the German championship with Dortmund in 2011 and 2012. Seven years later, the now experienced international player returned to Bayern. Hummels celebrated three more championships with the record champions. He returned to the Ruhr region in the summer of 2019.
Pacemaker of BVB football
“Mats was one of the key figures in BVB football over the past 15 years,” praised Ricken. Sports director Kehl agreed: “Without a doubt, we are losing an outstanding personality in Mats Hummels, perhaps one of the last of his kind in football. During his career, Mats not only shaped BVB, but also raised the central defender game worldwide to a new level.”
Hummels played 442 Bundesliga games (33 goals) and 90 Champions League games (five goals). Hummels made his last of 78 international appearances last November in a 2-0 defeat in Austria. He was not nominated for the European Championship at home.