Dortmund’s sports director Sebastian Kehl announces a harder gait due to the disappointing course of the season at BVB. Before the game on Sunday (5.30 p.m.) against Mainz, the pressure at the Dortmunders is extremely high.
“We now need men who feel like challenges that are aggressive and do not hide. The fans want to see that, we owe them to them,” said Kehl in an interview with the “Ruhr Nachrichten”.
“We will take a close look at who will take this course.” According to Kehl, the club bosses check “which players Borussia Dortmund can also build in the future. Who is taking this situation now? Who also stands in the wind and who takes responsibility now? “
Trainer Niko Kovac, on the other hand, focused on the great importance of the game against Mainz at the press conference. “Mainz is third, that shows the importance of the game. We have to win, no matter how,” says Kovac: “What will come around in the end.
Expensive Dortmund squad, disappointing balance sheet
According to Kehl, there are not only important weeks for the club, but also for every single player. For the first time since 2015, the Dortmunders are threatened to miss the Champions League. There could be a major change in Borussia in summer.
“In the Bundesliga It is very, very unsatisfactory. For our fans, for the club, for the team and also for me personally, “said the 45-year-old.
Form weakness at Brandt, Gitten and Co.
All players must feel addressed from the current squad. Not a single performance has been performing permanently this season, although the quality is undoubtedly present. This applies to Julian Brandt, who should become a face of the club after the farewell to Marco Reus and Mats Hummels and is currently a shadow of himself. This applies to young wild ones like Jamie Gitten and Maximilian Beier as well as for veterans like Pascal Groß, Emre Can or Niklas Süle.
Not constant enough: Julian Brandt from BVB
Kehl emphasized that the football-Profis playing at BVB for their future: “Our team has caused a bit of bitter disappointment several times. It is put together for completely different expectations and demands. We have one of the most expensive squad in the Bundesliga, and we don’t do justice.”
The big problem: In summer none of the sometimes very highly endowed contracts expires, so the urgently needed change will be difficult to moderate and could cost a lot of money. At the same time, a scenario in which the club itself misses the Conference League is quite realistic. Kehl claims that this would not affect BVB unprepared.
Kovac wants to “strengthen” his actors
“Of course, Sebastian has to worry about what happens in summer,” said Kovac at Kehl’s statements regarding the upcoming upheaval, “but we still have eight games in the Bundesliga and hopefully more than two Champions League games. I will not address this here now, because we need every single player.”
So Kovac tried to weaken Kehl’s demanding tone: “Now it is about strengthening our players – to tease everything out again”. And yet Kovac also knows that personnel changes after the season are probably without alternative. “At the end of the season we will see what is necessary to be better positioned in the new season,” said the 53-year-old, who has been in office since the beginning of February and has a contract with validity by June 30, 2026.
What’s next with a throat?
Kehl himself is also not unpunished at BVB despite its contract extension in January. According to “Sport Bild”, Ralf Rangnick, currently national coach in Austria, is in discussion for the post of sports director at Borussia and could replace Kehl in summer.
Our sources:
- BVB press conference on March 28, 2025
- Ruhr messages
- German press agency
- Sports information service
- Sports picture
