analysis
After the 2:5 defeat, Hertha BSC seems to have said goodbye to the fight for promotion to the Bundesliga. Without ever really being there. That doesn’t reflect well on the sporting leadership.
- Hertha BSC’s promotion to the Bundesliga seems out of the question after the 5-2 defeat in Paderborn
- The club has the largest personnel budget in the league
- Nevertheless, the team lacks quality
- Above all, there is a lack of an overarching idea
You shouldn’t always take everything so seriously with people who speak into microphones in moments of disappointment. But Stefan Leitl, coach of the second division soccer team, probably had it Hertha BSCright when he left after the disastrous 2:5 defeat spoke into a microphone at SC Paderborn: “The door is closed and locked.”
Given Hertha’s current condition, it has to be said that it is a metaphorical door. Namely the one that leads towards promotion to the Bundesliga. The club never made this a clear goal before the season, but it made it clear enough. Leitl spoke to the Hertha general meeting on May 25th last year and not at the moment of disappointment: “Our goal can only be to do everything we can to get promoted to the Bundesliga!” And now, eleven match days before the end of the season, this: door closed. And cordoned off. Which raises two of the oldest questions in human history: What caused it? And: what should happen?
Hertha has one of the highest personnel budgets
According to the official financial figures of the German Football League (DFL), at the end of 2024 no second division team had spent more money on its staff than Hertha BSC. That was 45.8 million euros. For comparison: Paderborn, last weekend’s opponent, was 16.6 million euros. The numbers for the current season are not yet known. However, one can assume that Hertha will continue to perform at a similar level and is still one of the financially strongest clubs in the league. That’s one side. On the other hand, Hertha will be dependent on transfer proceeds once they win the Bundesliga in 2023 at the latest.
Since January 29, 2023, Benjamin Weber has been primarily responsible for realizing these transfer proceeds and still putting together a good team. The original Berliner has now been responsible for six full transfer windows, achieving a big plus in each season and a total transfer surplus of an impressive 56 million euros. At least if you look at the figures from the industry portal transfermarkt.de believes. The exact amount doesn’t matter so much as the compulsion behind it.
Benjamin Weber’s poor balance sheet
In return, many players came with cheap transfer fees and often even free transfers. Although free transfer is one thing given the usual hand money. And the salaries – see personnel expenses – still seem to be princely by second division standards. Nevertheless, Benjamin Weber’s job has certainly not been one of the easiest in German professional football in recent years. Despite the degree of severity being considered, the balance sheet is not particularly good.
Evaluating performances can hardly be objective in football. If you look at the players who found their way to Hertha BSC under Weber, perhaps only two of them could be classified as hits. Haris Tabakovic, who scored 28 goals in 32 second division games in 2023/24 and was promptly sold to Hoffenheim for a profit of 2.5 million euros. And defensive lineman Toni Leistner.
Hertha’s sports director Benjamin Weber at the game in Paderborn.
Sonorous names, little performance
The presumably very expensive ones – whether in terms of transfer fee or salary – Dawid Kownacki, Diego Demme, Michael Cuisance, Kevin Sessa and Michal Karbownik fell short of expectations. All players with illustrious names who were always able to hint at where the illustrious name came from. But they could never arouse the hope of becoming influential names behind a promotion.
And then there are those players who cost a lot of money and fell far short of the associated expectations. Players like Andreas Bouchalakis, Bilal Hussein, Palko Dardai and Marius Gersbeck. In short: not a good sporting record for Benjamin Weber.
Axel Kruse distributes
If anyone has had what it takes to make Hertha fans dream of Bundesliga football in recent years, it was probably Fabian Reese, who has recently looked more and more like an inventory of this constantly failing club. And then there are the homegrown players, Ibrahim Maza and recently Kennet Eichhorn. Players that Hertha had to sell (Maza) and will (Eichhorn) in order to continue to manage its high personnel budgets and at the same time reduce debts.
For ex-Hertha professional Axel Kruse, one of the experts in rbb|24-Inforadio podcast “Capital Derby”there is also a problem there. Winger Marten Winkler, for example, “played one season, OK, but you can’t get promoted with him.” Nevertheless, he and others were “provided with fat contracts far too early”, although these players “didn’t show anything”, said Kruse in the current issue of the “Capital Derby”. He also raises the question of quality with Linus Gechter and Pascal Klemens, who are often considered great talents. Above all, however, Kruse subsequently discovered a very crucial shortcoming: Hertha lacked an idea.
An idea is missing
Many football clubs are particularly good when they follow a clear idea. Union Berlin, for example, stands for uncompromising defense work – with the word work in particular being emphasized – and has been successful for years beyond financial means. The average Hertha fan, on the other hand, will have a hard time asking what his club stands for. In any case, the slogan “Berliner Weg” alone no longer gets enough of an answer.
Hertha BSC will therefore also be one of the teams with the highest personnel budget in the coming second division season. However, you can’t think of many arguments as to why something should change the table picture if there is a persistent lack of ideas. It is no coincidence that the club has not been ranked fifth or higher since its relegation. After three years in the second league, we would probably need some impetus on a personnel level. Will coach Stefan Leitl, sports director Benjamin Weber, both or no one be affected? One thing is certain: someone will speak into a microphone disappointed.
Broadcast: rbb|24, February 23, 2026, 9:40 p.m
