Four Options To Replace Nuri Şahin As Manager At Borussia Dortmund 2024/25 – Tactical Analysis

Following a disappointing start to 2025, Borussia Dortmund parted ways with their manager and former midfielder, Nuri Şahin, early on Wednesday following a defeat at Bologna in the UEFA Champions League.

The loss down in northern Italy marked a fourth defeat in as many games for BVB, with only one win recorded since late November in all competitions, making Şahins position untenable.

With Dortmund sitting in mid-table in the Bundesliga, seven points off a top-four spot which guarantees Champions League football for next year with 16 games to play, and their place in the knockout phase play-offs of that competition for this season already confirmed, theres still enough time and opportunity to salvage this campaign for the Schwarzgelben.

Hence, Dortmunds decision to act now regarding a change in the dugout.

This marks the first time since the 2020/21 season that the team are in the market for a new Dortmund manager mid-season.

That campaign ended with Champions League football delivered and a DFB-Pokal title to boot.

The Pokal will not come to them this time after their early elimination in the second round, and admittedly, it will be much harder to get back in the top four.

Dortmund recorded their lowest points tally at this stage of a Bundesliga campaign since 2014/15, Jürgen Klopps final season with the club, when they only finished seventh.

But the next manager will have to take on that challenge with practically another half-season left, regardless of whether he will be there beyond this season.

This tactical analysis will take a closer look at some of the leading names being thrown around as the potential incoming new Borussia Dortmund manager at the Westfalenstadion, with both short-term and long-term options included depending on which route the club decides to take for the remainder of this season and beyond.

Short-Term: Niko Kovač, 53 years old, Without Club

According to the most recent rumours, Niko Kovač is most likely to get the job on an interim basis until the end of the season.

This may signal that the Dortmund board plans to postpone the decision on who will lead the team long-term until the summer after the season is over.

As of this writing, it remains to be seen whether such terms will be agreed upon with Kovač in the coming days, but at the moment, the Croat seems to be the favourite to see out the remainder of the 2024/25 campaign with BVB.

With over four years of managerial experience in the Bundesliga with Eintracht Frankfurt, Dortmunds rivals Bayern Munich, and most recently Wolfsburg, Kovač seems like a safe option for Dortmund.

This is especially true given his current availability and likely lower demands compared to other options in the market.

Tactically, hes also unlikely to be a big departure from what Dortmund have been playing for a while now, with 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 being his most preferred setups in recent jobs and an emphasis on attacking through quick transitions and pressing compactly when out of possession.

VfL Wolfsburg Penetrating Carries Map 2022/23 Bundesliga

The above data viz highlights his Wolfsburg teams ball-carrying abilities in his first season in charge during the 2022/23 season, where we can see how many of them come from wide areas and work their way into the final third and eventually the opposing penalty areas.

While Kovač has had some success as a manager in some of his previous clubs, things didnt end very well for him in his last two stints at German clubs, with both Bayern and Wolfsburg parting ways with him in the middle of the season.

That may be where the hesitancy lies for Dor