After farewell to Borussia Mönchengladbach
Now it’s fixed: Eberl becomes head of sports at RB Leipzig
“Ready again and full of strength”: In January 2022, when this picture was taken, the football manager was still drained and exhausted, which is why he quit his job at Borussia Mönchengladbach
© Federico Gambarini / DPA
After months of poker, Max Eberl’s return to the Bundesliga is perfect. From December he will be sports director of RB Leipzig, who will pay a high transfer fee to Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Max Eberl is now officially back in business: After his voluntary departure from Borussia Mönchengladbach in January 2022, the football manager is returning to the Bundesliga and will become the sporting director of RB Leipzig. The cup winner agreed with Gladbach on the change after a long poker game. According to an RB announcement on Monday, Eberl will become a member of the management board. Formally, a Leipzig sports director has never been so high up in the club’s Bundesliga structure. However, he will not take office until December 15th. A contract term was not mentioned.
“I’m grateful for the recovery time I need and I feel ready and full of energy again to want to work in football. I’m coming to a club that has developed rapidly in recent years, is very ambitious and for a clear football philosophy,” said Eberl. Managing Director Oliver Mintzlaff was pleased to be able to fill the vacant position “with our absolute dream candidate”.
Gladbach receives fee for Max Eberl
Leipzig paid a fee to his former club Borussia Mönchengladbach for Eberl’s commitment. According to reports, this should be 2.5 million euros plus bonuses. Eberl resigned as sporting director at Borussia at the end of January, citing health reasons. However, his contract, which ran until 2026, was not terminated, it was only suspended. The 48-year-old was still employed by Gladbach, but did not receive any salary.
In Leipzig, the ex-professional closes a gap that has existed for more than a year and at the same time ended a theater reminiscent of slapstick about the Leipzig sports director search. Mintzlaff had repeatedly announced a successor to ex-sports director Markus Krösche and was unable to keep to the time frame he had set himself. The ex-athlete had promised a 1A-Plus solution, a man who would enrich the Bundesliga. The club had already agreed with a candidate in the summer, but turned it down due to an alternative that was available at short notice.
Responsible for more than 13 years in Mönchengladbach
This alternative was Eberl, with whom there was the first serious contact after the cup final. Eberl had the sporting say in Mönchengladbach for more than 13 years. During this time, Gladbach managed to establish itself as a regular participant in the European Cup. However, Eberl’s ambitions to become a serious challenger to Bayern Munich in the championship could not be reconciled with the general conditions in Gladbach. Again and again top performers left the club.
In Leipzig he now meets coach Marco Rose, with whom he worked for two years in Gladbach. The economic possibilities of Leipzig are significantly greater than at Borussia. However, RB failed to start the season. In the Bundesliga, the team is stuck deep in midfield, in the Champions League they lost the first two group games.