The Dane Mike Tullberg will be on the sidelines as coach of Borussia Dortmund against Werder Bremen. The U19 coach recently turned down a lucrative offer for his team.
Mike Tullberg was in Norway at the beginning of January. To be precise, he was in Bergen. There he looked at the stadium of the Norwegian first division football team Brann Bergen and negotiated with those responsible about an immediate start as head coach.
The 39-year-old is said to have already had a contract ready to be signed. Tullberg even skipped the start of Borussia Dortmund’s U19 preparations for the trip to Norway. Because Tullberg trains them, and he does it so well that the Norwegian runner-up wanted him as a coach. In the end, the Dane canceled Brann Bergen.
Bundesliga debut against Werder Bremen
Now he is still in the spotlight and looking after a first division team, and BVB’s U19s still have to make do without him. At least for now. After the dismissal of Nuri Sahin, Tullberg becomes interim coach of the black and yellow Borussia. On Saturday he will celebrate his Bundesliga debut against Werder Bremen.
Jamie Gittens brought into the professional squad
Tullberg is a successful trainer. He has been at BVB since 2019, first taking over the second team and then the U19s. He led them to the German championship in 2022. He worked with, among others, Youssoufa Moukoko and Jamie Gittens, both of whom were promoted to the professional squad. There is now a reunion with Gittens.
He and his team are currently back in first place, and things are also going well in the Youth League. BVB will face Real Madrid in the round of 16 from mid-February. “I’m a coach at Borussia Dortmund and I’m still very happy to work here”Tullberg told the “Ruhr Nachrichten”: “Our goal is to get to the knockout rounds in the youth league and to do well in the Youth League in Madrid. Our main goal remains to push through as many players as possible.”
In the 2nd Bundesliga once for Oberhausen
Tullberg also had a playing career. He was a center forward. He landed in Germany in 2009. He moved from the Italian club Reggina Calcio to the then second division club Rot-Weiß Oberhausen. Because of a serious knee injury, he only played four games there.
Tullberg stayed in Germany and took over the district league team SG Schönebeck as assistant coach in 2012. A year later he returned to Rot-Weiß Oberhausen, where he worked in the youth performance center and then got the position of coach at the U19. After returning home – Tullberg coached the U19s at Aarhus GF and was assistant coach at Vendsyssel FF – he ended up in Dotmund.
As Interim solution thought
For the first team, he should now only be a temporary solution. The Bundesliga club, which fell to tenth place, is already looking for another successor for Sahin. Niko Kovac is said to be the favorite. Former national coach Joachim Löw, Erik ten Hag (most recently at Manchester United), Urs Fischer and Bo Svensson (both most recently at Union Berlin) are also being traded. Roger Schmidt, who most recently coached Benfica Lisbon, has already canceled.
Can Tullberg surprise?
It remains to be seen to what extent Tullberg can positively influence the recently completely desolate Dortmund team in a short period of time. It is clear that he is good with young people.
Maybe he can even stay longer if the BVB bosses don’t find another coach and Tullberg is successful. He wouldn’t be the first interim coach to be named boss. Only recently did this happen to Merlin Polzin. This was only supposed to be a temporary solution at Hamburger SV and now he is head coach with the team at the top of the 2nd Bundesliga.
And if it isn’t enough for Tullberg in Dortmund, he is still on everyone’s lips at the moment and will then be back on the list at other clubs. Not just at Brann Bergen.