The coaching experiment with Nuri Sahin at Borussia Dortmund is over. The club announced this. U-19 coach Mike Tullberg will look after the team for the time being.
According to information from Sportschau, the decision to separate from Sahin was made the night after the game. The voices of those responsible after the Champions League game lost 2-1 at Bologna FC had already clearly indicated the separation.
Sammer: “physical and mental non-constitution”
Matthias Sammer, paid as an external consultant by BVB, confirmed in his capacity as an expert at “Amazon Prime” that both the coach and the team were in a “physical and mental condition”. The team can’t defend at the moment, “but they can’t attack either.”
“Decision hurts”
“This decision also hurts me personally, but it was no longer avoidable after the game in Bologna,” said managing director Lars Ricken about the separation. Sahin is quoted by BVB as saying: “Unfortunately, we have not managed to do justice to Borussia Dortmund’s sporting ambitions this season at this point in time. I wish this special club all the best.”
After just over six months, the Bundesliga soccer team is parting ways with its head coach. It is unclear who will succeed the 36-year-old Sahin. BVB wants to “inform promptly” who will be responsible for the team in the Bundesliga game against Werder Bremen on Saturday.
Tullberg steps in as an interim solution
For days, prominent names such as Joachim Löw, Roger Schmidt, Erik ten Haag and Niko Kovac have been discussed as possible successors, including that of Portuguese star coach Jose Mourinho. According to Sportschau information, Schmidt has other plans. An internal solution could be Mike Tullberg. The 39-year-old Dane is currently coaching the U19s and will look after the professionals in the Bundesliga game against Werder Bremen on Saturday. Tullberg recently rejected an offer from Brann Bergen to take over the Norwegian first division club.
This case could have certain parallels with the move from Edin Terzic to Nuri Sahin. According to information from Sportschau, Sahin, who worked as an assistant under Terzic, also had an offer from another club. However, BVB is said to have asked him to stay in case the position of head coach became vacant. This is her again.
Goals not achieved
In the Bundesliga, the Westphalians are currently well away from the minimum goal of qualifying for the Champions League. On June 1st, BVB was in the final of the premier class. After three defeats in the first three Bundesliga games of the new year, BVB is already seven points behind fourth place.
Sahin was the eighth BVB coach since Klopp. Since the end of Jürgen Klopp’s era almost ten years ago, the coaching position at the Revierclub has been like a permanent construction site. Sahin is already the eighth coach since 2015 to fail in Dortmund after Klopp’s departure. Among them were high-profile players such as Thomas Tuchel, Lucien Favre and Marco Rose.
Terzic’s successor
After the end of current Leipzig head coach Rose in the summer of 2022, BVB had coaches in Edin Terzic and most recently Sahin with a strong connection to Dortmund, but without much previous experience. Terzic was the Revierclub’s youth and assistant coach for years before he took over as Dortmund’s head coach in December 2020 for six months and then again for two years after Rose’s departure.
Although BVB under him only lost the championship on the last matchday in 2023 and made it to the Champions League final against Real Madrid (0-2) last summer, the club and Terzic parted ways.
Sahin – back to the youth club
His previous assistant coach Sahin, who only returned to BVB in this role in January 2024, took over his youth club, with great praise from those in charge, where he had already joined as a twelve-year-old and for which he had made his professional debut at the age of 16.
