Bundesliga Borussia Dortmund
Hans-Joachim Watzke is planning his end as BVB boss
As of: 2:07 p.m. | Reading time: 2 minutes
Hans Joachim Watzke
Source: dpa/Bernd Thissen
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Hans-Joachim Watzke asked for a media round at the training camp in Marbella on Monday. There the 64-year-old announced when he would resign from his position as managing director of Borussia Dortmund. It is the second time he is planning his exit.
Hans-Joachim Watzke will leave the management of Borussia Dortmund in autumn 2025. The listed Bundesliga soccer team announced this on Monday. The 64-year-old’s contract will then expire, marking the end of an era at the Revierklub after 20 years. At BVB’s training camp in Marbella, Watzke confirmed in a specially convened media group that he would not be extending his contract.
“It was always important to me that it would be a self-determined exit. It was a long time,” said Watzke. He is very grateful to the club. “I consider it a great privilege. I will do my job with full enthusiasm and energy until the last day,” said Watzke. He now wants to concentrate on the strategy and the transition in the last year of his term in office: “The Presidential Committee has asked me to hold discussions, develop ideas and present a concept regarding overall responsibility. I agreed to that.” It is unclear whether he will take on another position at BVB and who will be his successor.
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His contract as CEO of BVB was extended until 2025 in May 2021. At that time, Watzke had postponed his planned exit again due to the corona pandemic and its effects. “I know very well my responsibility towards this club. It is completely impossible for me to disembark in the greatest crisis,” he said at the time.
Watzke is also vice president of the DFB
Watzke has had a huge impact on the club’s development in recent years and experienced with BVB, among other things, the successful era under coach Jürgen Klopp with two championship titles in 2011 and 2012, the cup victory in 2012 and the Champions League final in 2013. Watzke was at BVB in 2005 was appointed managing director. It is unclear whether he will now take on another position at BVB and who will be his successor.
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In the German Football League, Watzke heads the supervisory board and is spokesman for the executive committee. Since the departure of the former DFL managing director Christian Seifert, the BVB boss has been the defining face of the league. For German football, he has also sat on the executive committee of the European Football Union as Vice President of the German Football Association since April 2023. His mandate at UEFA also ends in 2025.
