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with Edin Terzic, Borussia Dortmund have finally found their ideal coach

Edin Terzic. IMAGO/Eibner/Memmler

If Borussia Dortmund are at the top of the Bundesliga when it comes to Bayern Munich, it is because their coach Edin Terzic skilfully masters a complicated club to manage and manages to get the most out of their players.

Borussia Dortmund are leaders in the Bundesliga. It had been a long time since the German club had finished a league day on top. 1302 days to be precise. A real anomaly. To find traces of BVB at the top of the standings, you had to go back to August 25, 2019. The coach was then Lucien Favre and Edin Terzic was only his deputy. The German-Croatian technician has since taken the lead and is now the confirmed number 1.

If Bayern Munich made headlines by sacking Julian Nagelsmann it is also because Borussia Dortmund titillates him in the league in proportions that the Bavarian club probably did not imagine. BVB are in the lead and their success bears the stamp of their coach. “Edin Terzic matches what Dortmund want as a coachexplains Sophie Serbini, journalist at the Deutsche Welle TV channel. “The club have been looking for a coach who matches their image for years. It didn’t go well with Thomas Tuchel , with Marco Rose and even with Lucien Favre at the end. Terzic is unanimous and corresponds to the values ​​of Borussia».

A coach who knows the club well

The native of Menden has an essential asset for him: that of knowing the club well. At 40, he has already spent a few years at Borussia Dortmund. At the twilight of a modest career as an attacker in the German lower echelons, in 2010 he joined the staff of the U19 yellow and black. He then navigates in several youth categories before following in the shoes of assistant Slaven Bilic in his experiences at Besiktas and West Ham. Terzic, who has gained enough experience, returns home and then assists Lucien Favre.

In December 2020, the Swiss was thanked by his leaders. Terzic succeeds him and is inducted number 1 until the end of the season. A logical choice and despite mixed results, he finished 3rd in the Bundesliga and triumphed in the Pokal (German Cup) in the spring. The following season, he left his post to take on the role of technical director of the club, the BVB having poached Marco Rose from Borussia Mönchengladbach. Last summer, his return is part of a logic of stability after years of turbulence.

Terzic, effective management

«He has been there for a long time and therefore knows the imperatives of the club. He understands the mechanics of BVB, has coached the youth teams, knows the fans well and manages to manage the egos of a complicated locker room and these 3 assets, no coach had them since Jürgen Klopp (club coach between 2008 and 2015)” explains Sophie Serbini. “On the tactical aspect it is obviously less good than him but it holds for the moment».

Contrary to the image of «cool» that the club sends back to the collective imagination, Dortmund is a difficult entity to manage. Terzic, who studied sports science at the University of Bochum, knows how to maneuver skillfully in this environment. “We always say that Dortmund must aim higher but it’s very hard. It’s a real basket of crabs, the management is complicated, the locker room too with two important players who hate each other (Marco Reus and Mats Hummels). So you need a coach who understands how the fans work, who is able to discuss with Watzke (the Managing Director of Borussia Dortmund)and manage everyone’s egos» lists the one who also animates the Radio Buli podcast.

Edin Terzic and Jude Bellingham, in training. IMAGO/Kirchner/Marco Steinbrenner

Dortmund is also a club with a special status. “The BVB is listed on the stock exchange. They do not have the same economic springs as others and are forced to make money each season through sales. Watzke is an accountant who manages a football club. The club must make an impeccable balance sheet and in this work, it is remarkableabounds the DW journalist. Unlike its predecessors, Terzic pleases its leaders in this area. “When Tuchel went to complain about this policy, there was necessarily a conflict that took place with the management. Terzic knows the club and its situation. Even if he does not want Bellingham to leave (the young English player is announced in particular in England for a big transfer this summer)he does not flinch».

The leaders are getting used to it and, with the current results, naturally maintain their confidence in the technician. The BVB, eliminated in the knockout stages of the Champions League by Chelsea, is still in the race in Pokal (quarter-finals next Wednesday against RB Leipzig). In the Bundesliga, a victory this Saturday in the Klassiker (at 6:30 p.m.) would give the North Rhine club a boulevard towards the title of champion 8 days from the end. The supporters are impatiently awaiting a coronation which has been fleeing the club since 2012. Terzic has the keys in hand to fill them.

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