Borussia Dortmund announced on Friday that former club player Nuri Sahin had signed a three-year contract with replace Edin Terzic as head coach.
Sahin had been part of Dortmund’s coaching staff this season as Terzic’s assistant.
“We are convinced that Nuri is the right coach for us,” the new sporting director, Lars Ricken, said of the appointment. “In recent years he has been preparing intensively for his career as a coach, he will take on his new position with great dedication and will further develop our team.”
A product of the Dortmund youth academy takes the reins of the team
Like Terzic before him, Sahin, 35, will take over despite having a fairly sparse coaching resume. But he responds with close and long-standing ties to the club, since he became the youngest player to compete in a Bundesliga match on his debut for Dortmund, before his 17th birthday, back in 2005. That record stood for more than a decade, but has since fallen.
Sahin played more than 250 games for Dortmund before moving to Real Madrid, then Liverpool, then Werder Bremen and finally Antalyaspor in Turkey.
“Nuri knows the club, its staff and the BVB DNA, both as a player and as a coach,” Ricken said.
Hummels leaves BVB and Reus due to generational change
But Sahin will also take over when players of his generation leave the club.
In addition to Marco Reus, whose departure had been clear for some time, veteran defender Mats Hummels will also leave Dortmund during the preseason, as the player confirmed on Friday.
“Dear fans, my time in black and yellow is coming to an end after more than 13 years in total,” Hummels said of his two spells at Dortmund, booking a few years with Bayern Munich in between.
“It was a huge honor and a joy for me. This club with its fans is something really special, and for me it is even more than that.”
Dortmund had a mixed season in 2023/24, struggling to finish fifth in the Bundesliga, but at the same time making an impressive run to the final. Champions League final. They lost to Real Madrid despite having many of the best chances in another defeat in a European final at Wembley Stadium.
Hummels’ critical media comments before that final about Terzic’s work as coach upset the Dortmund management and may have played some role in his departure.
It was clear that Hummels’ contract was expiring, but it was less clear whether the club planned to offer him another one.
msh/rmt (AFP, dpa, SID)