Opinion of Watzke’s resignation
A Kahn case would be fatal for BVB
Status: 09.01.2024 | Reading time: 3 minutes
Hans-Joachim Watzke successfully led Borussia Dortmund as managing director for over 20 years
Source: AP/Martin Meissner
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Hans-Joachim Watzke has announced his retirement from BVB. However, he wants to create his own concept for the time after him. One thing is certain: his successor will take on a difficult legacy – he can then ask FC Bayern.
Hans-Joachim Watzke said he had carefully considered the decision. In 2025, after twenty years at the helm of BVB, it will be over for him. Then that’s enough. He will hand over overall sporting responsibility at the end of the current season.
Both dates will represent a turning point for Borussia Dortmund. Many people find it hard to imagine the club without the entrepreneur from Marsberg in East Westphalia, who was promoted to management in 2005, when BVB was in a financial crisis that threatened its existence. Watzke was – and still is – a doer, a controversial character who first rehabilitated the club and then led it back to the top of national football. He was the one who had the final say in all important decisions of the last decades. He seemed omnipresent. Even in the Jürgen Klopp era, when BVB won two championships in a row.
It is undoubtedly Klopp’s legacy that BVB has once again become an internationally respected brand despite relatively modest financial resources compared to Bayern or the top English and Spanish clubs. But it is Watzke’s greatest achievement that the club still exists.
BVB faces an uncertain future
The now announced withdrawal raises questions, above all one: Is BVB prepared for the time after Watzke? There are two years until the end of 2025 to complete the succession plan. That sounds comfortable.
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But actually things have to go much faster. If Watzke really hands over overall sporting responsibility on June 30, 2024, as announced, it should be clear by then who the new strong man will be. By the end of the season it must be clear who will lead BVB’s fortunes and who will lead the club into the future.
Watzke himself wants to develop a concept for the time after him – and thus also select and at least suggest his successor. It is currently completely unclear who this will be. The obvious solution would be to promote sports director Sebastian Kehl. He is a modern manager with clear ideas about the future of BVB. However, the new BVB manager may also be brought in from outside.
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Whoever it is: the succession plan has to be right. There can be no one who gets lost or who doesn’t manage to step out of Watzke’s long shadow. This is easier said than done. Oliver Kahn and Hasan Salihamidžić failed at FC Bayern, not least because they had not managed to emancipate themselves from Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Uli Hoeneß.
Something like that would have even more fatal consequences for BVB. The people of Dortmund are now fighting not only against Bavaria’s ever-increasing economic lead, but also against an increasing number of international and national competitors that are run by patrons or investors. The market environment in which Watzke’s successor has to position BVB is getting tougher from year to year. He needs a lot of skill and also the support of his outgoing boss. Because Watzke will not lose his great influence even after the announcement of his withdrawal.
