Wolfsburg also showed interest
After BVB’s exit: Will Kehl continue at HSV?
Updated March 22, 2026 – 2:42 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Sebastian Kehl is leaving Borussia Dortmund with immediate effect. Will the ex-BVB captain now become sports director at HSV?
After sports director Sebastian Kehl’s retirement from Borussia Dortmund, speculation is likely to increase regarding the 46-year-old’s move to Hamburger SV. For weeks there have been several media reports that the ex-professional is a promising candidate for the position of sports director and thus the successor to Stefan Kuntz at the northern German Bundesliga club.
The “Hamburger Abendblatt” reported a few days ago that Kehl was one of several candidates to succeed Kuntz. HSV involved a headhunter agency in the search. Kehl, who has been in the position at Revierklub since July 2022, is said to have a desire to move up to manager level. At BVB, Lars Ricken was placed in front of him as managing director. In addition to HSV, VfL Wolfsburg was also a candidate in the race for Kehl. There he could replace Peter Christiansen, who was fired as sports director a few weeks ago.
Overall, however, the current HSV sports director Claus Costa is also part of the group of candidates. After the separation from Stefan Kuntz in January, CFO Eric Huwer took over some of the tasks. Kehl was already confronted with the HSV rumors in January. At that time, he confirmed that his focus was on BVB’s transfer window and that he wasn’t thinking about anything else at the moment.
However, Dortmund parted ways with Kehl on Sunday with immediate effect. The former BVB captain has to leave the club after more than 20 years. There has been criticism of Kehl and his personnel planning for a long time. The separation still came as a surprise at this point in time.
