analysis
Niko Kovač is the favorite among two candidates on the coaching job at Borussia Dortmund. But there should still be a lot to clarify between him and the club, as there is a lot to clarify.
It is still complicated to describe the mixture at Borussia Dortmund with just a few sets or even one word. The adjectives are confused, tricky and tricky – and also complicated.
On the one hand, it is easy, because if BVB want to have another chance of wanting to move directly into the round of 16 of the Champions League, he has to win against Schachtar Donetsk on Wednesday. What else still has to happen, it will be complicated. Realistically, the ball game club should be preparing to have to play two games in a intermediate round in February.
A significantly better starting position cost BVB the defeat at FC Bologna, which also cost Nuri Şahin the job.
Niko Kovač and Mr. X, who turns out to be Ralf Rangnick
Borussia Dortmund is looking for a new head coach again, and according to information from the sports show, there are two serious candidates. One is one whose name had not yet been traded in the rumor mill. It was only to be heard that it was a man, so he could be called Mr. X instead of NN.
The broadcaster “Sky” then managed to reveal the secret on Tuesday. Mr. X was Ralf Rangnick, the Austrian national coach, reported “Sky”. Information from the sports show covers it. They also say that Ralf Rangnick, as a former Schalke and Leipziger with probably a rather difficult stand at Dortmund fans on the south grandstand, is not a BVB coach, at least not for the rest of the season.
New solution in summer?
So it boils down to Niko Kovač, the other candidate who has been traded for a long time. He crystallized as a favorite, but it shouldn’t be that he only has to fly to Dortmund to sign a contract.
Kovač, which can also be heard from the club, should be considered as a solution until summer, and then find another solution. This could be the sticking point in the conversations that are to be continued before the game in the Champions League.
Even with a possible solution for the summer, names are already flitting through the rumor mill, one of which is Sebastian Hoeneß, currently under contract with VfB Stuttgart. Now Ralf Rangnick is added.
No names are commented on by the Borussia, but if it is understandable via Flighttracker that a charter machine from Paderborn (about 100 kilometers from Dortmund away) flew to Salzburg and back on Monday (27.01.2025), then it was – like it In a first version of this text it also stood – as another strong indication of the interest in the 53 -year -old Croatian. Kovač, coach at VfL Wolfsburg until March 2024, lives in Salzburg.
However, Ralf Rangnick, to whom the visit was, also lives in the closer of the Austrian city.
Tullberg possibly still in Heidenheim Interim coach
It could still be a bit clear until an agreement with Kovač, so interim coach Mike Tullberg may also be responsible for the team on Saturday in the Bundesliga game at 1. FC Heidenheim.
Borussia Dortmund will go into this game as a table. Six points behind fourth place, which entitles you to participate in the Champions League, are to be made up for. But there should also be doubts about the responsible persons that this can succeed with the current squad. So far, there were only two movements on the winter transfer market. Donyell Malen left BVB, he is now playing for Aston Villa in the Premier League.
Salih Özcan was brought back prematurely by a loan business with VfL Wolfsburg, as a quick reaction to the injury to midfielder Felix Nmecha, who will be out longer.
Sports director Kehl under time and success pressure
Borussia runs the time a little, especially if the new trainer is still to have a decisive influence on new ways. The transfer window closes on Monday (03.02.2025). Sports director Sebastian Kehl is therefore under time and under pressure to succeed, because only Serhou Guirassy has only fulfilled expectations of the new additions of the past summer, and his obligation is attributed to the technical director Sven Mislintat.
Its relationship with Kehl has been an issue since last summer because it was considered a burden before Mislintat was brought back. In the meantime it has become even worse and it is obvious that the working atmosphere would be beneficial, one of the two would have to go.
According to reports from the Dortmund newspaper “Ruhr Nachrichten” and the news agency “Sport-Information Service” (SID), a separation of Mislintat is imminent. But with this personnel, the mixture is also at least complicated, because there are also advocates among the decision -makers of the BVB, just as there are critics of Sebastian Kehl, who recently signed a new contract that was valid until 2027.
Hans-Joachim Watzke, even if Lars, with whom the boss had flown to Salzburg, is still much more present in the media, is now significantly more present in the media. Then there is also the external consultant Matthias Sammer, who, after the defeat in Bologna, as an expert of the transmission streaming service, also exists as if the mixture was rather hopeless than complicated.