A faltering league season, constant coaching speculation and, somehow, the ability to turn it on in the — Borussia Dortmund’s season is starting to look familiar to anyone who was paying attention to the last one.
Dortmund’s run to an eventual was enthralling but not enough to save coach Edin Terzic. Neither was the 5th-placed finish that saw them sneak into this season’s tournament.
Things are worse in the league this time. Dortmund sit in the bottom half of the league after losing 10 of their opening 25 matches. Terzic’s replacement, , has gone and . While he has yet to extinguish the blaze in the Bundesliga, Kovac has guided BVB past Sporting and now Lille in Europe. Next up, Barcelona in the quarterfinals.
“You play football for this kind of game,” said Emre Can, while Kovac saw proof against Lille that his side “like to play in this competition.”
Constant coaching changes
But that may not be enough for Kovac or for Dortmund. Reports suggest that the former Bayern Munich, Frankfurt and Wolfsburg coach will be let go if he doesn’t steer his side to a European spot this season. That would mean 10 coaches in the decade since left the Westfalenstadion.
Klopp’s legacy, both in terms of success and character, looms large. In the last decade, Dortmund have lurched from sentimental appointments like Sahin, part of the last side to win the league under Klopp, and Terzic through Bundesliga-hardened coaches like Thomas Tuchel, Peter Stöger and Lucien Favre and the all-out attack of Dutch coach Peter Bosz. There have been a few German Cups and a few failed title bids, but none of these men have lasted.
The on-pitch ties to the Klopp era were fully consigned to history at the end of last season when veteran pair Mats Hummels and Marco Reus said their goodbyes. Upon his departure later that summer, Germany striker Niclas Füllkrug said the club “lost a lot of identity” as a result.
Lacking direction
It’s a charge that has been levelled a lot at Dortmund in the last few years. As recently as 2020, the club had Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland in their lineup, with a clear policy of signing the best young talent in world football, giving it a stage and then selling on for a vast profit. That part of the puzzle worked. The club was held up as an example across Europe. This looked like a way to bridge the financial gap to the all-conquering Bayern Munich.
But others saw the sense and adopted the model. And at the same time, Dortmund’s record of unearthing young talent started to falter. Donyell Malen, Karim Adeyemi and Felix Nmecha were bought in for sizable fees they have yet to repay and safe but unspectacular Bundesliga buys like Marcel Sabitzer, Füllkrug and Ramy Bensabaini became the norm. The profits of youth are only useful if you spend them wisely.
Seeing Bayer Leverkusen do what they came so close to doing so many times – – was another bitter blow and Dortmund look farther off now than they have since Klopp walked through the door in 2008.
Links to the past
For many fans, the carousel of coaches is evidence of a confused management board. Former Dortmund midfielder Lars Ricken took over from longterm CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke last year while Sebastian Kehl, another former player, is yet to fully convince as sporting director. The past is an important part of the identity of a tight-knit club, but there are those who start to believe it’s holding Dortmund back. Perhaps more critically, it’s not quite clear exactly what they are trying to do anymore.
And still, through it all, this is a club capable of the remarkable. Rarely was it more apparent than last season. A 3-0 loss to Mainz that cost them the top 4 was fading in the collective memory by the time Dortmund got to Wembley, just as defeats this season to Augsburg, Bochum and Holstein Kiel will do if they make it to Munich on May 31.
“We are definitely the underdogs,” said goalkeeper Gregor Kobel after the Lille game, “but there are few things better” than a tie against former Germany coach .
Another unlikely win in the Champions League may just paper over the cracks. For now, that’s the only option Dortmund have.
Edited by: Chuck Penfold
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