Borussia Dortmund part ways with coach Thomas Tuchel...
Dortmund have parted company with Thomas Tuchel, just days after he led the club to victory in the German Cup. The coach had been at loggerheads with club CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke for weeks.
The news of Tuchel leaving the club was first reported by the mass-circulation newspaper "Bild" on Tuesday, before the former Dortmund coach confirmed the news using his newly created Twitter account.
In this tweet, Tuchel, 43, thanked the BVB fans, the team and the staff for their support and wished them well for the future. In another, he expressed thanks for two "eventful and exciting" years, as well as regret that his time at the club was over.
Shortly afterwards, the club posted a statement on its website also confirming the news. It said that the decision that the club and the coach should go their separate ways had come after a meeting involving Tuchel, his agent, Olaf Meinking, sporting director Michael Zorc, and the club's chairman Hans-Joachim Watzke earlier in the day. It declined to go into detail about the reasons behind the decision.
There had been much speculation that Tuchel would leave Dortmund at the end of the season, as he had become embroiled in a very public spat with Watzke in recent weeks. Their relationship appears to have soured largely over the club's decision to agree to a UEFA request to play a Champions League quarterfinal match at home to Monaco just a day after Dortmund's team bus had been hit by a bomb attack.
It had also been widely reported that Tuchel had his differences with some of the players on the team. However, in the statement, BVB stressed that the decision to relieve Tuchel of his duties was not as a result of "a difference of opinion between two individuals."
BREAKING: BILD report that Thomas Tuchel is no longer Borussia Dortmund head coach. pic.twitter.com/Ab6iFzJ8h2
The report states the meeting lasted 21 minutes.
Tuchel leaves as the coach with the highest points average (2,09 per game) in BVB history. pic.twitter.com/az2naWgi7d
The move comes just three days after Dortmund defeated Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 in Saturday's final of the German Cup. By finishing third in the Bundesliga and thereby qualifying for the group stage of the Champions League, the team also achieved its stated goal in the league.
Tuchel took over at Dortmund coach in the summer of 2015 and had a contract that was to expire at the end of next season.
There was no immediate word on who might replace Tuchel as head coach.
No comments