“As an expert and as a person, it is beyond doubt”

Borussia Dortmund have officially confirmed the separation of coach Lucien Favre. Until the end of the season, Favre’s former assistant Edin Terzic will take over the squad, the Bundesliga team announced.

Favre, who actually had a contract until 2021, had been in office for two years. The two-time runner-up had been in office for 896 days.

Favre’s record at Borussia: 110 games, 68 wins, 17 draws, 25 losses. The last three home games (Bayern, Cologne, Stuttgart) were lost. Due to the bankruptcy against VfB, BVB has slipped to fifth place in the league.

BVB boss Hans-Joachim Watzke can be quoted on Twitter as follows: “We are all grateful to Lucien Favre for his excellent work over the last two and a half years, in which he and his team won two championships in runner-up. As a professional and as a person, Lucien Favre is beyond question. “

Best BVB point average of all time

Favre called the debacle against Stuttgart on Saturday night a “disaster”. Already in the 1: 2 defeat two weeks ago against Cologne and in the 1: 1 a week ago in Frankfurt, the team was below its own standards, the gap between fifth-placed Dortmund and defending champion Bayern Munich is five points after eleven rounds.

Despite the recent crisis, Favre’s record from his two years at Dortmund is positive. In both 2019 and 2020, he confidently led BVB to second place in the Bundesliga behind Bayern Munich, currently the best team in Europe. with the best point average of a Dortmund coach of all time. In the Champions League, BVB reached the round of 16 with Favre, where he narrowly missed last spring against eventual finalist Paris Saint-Germain. The group stage that ended on Wednesday ended with Dortmund in first place.

Superior leadership for exceptional talents

With Favre, Borussia became the leading European address for exceptional talent. Jadon Sancho became one of the most courted players before the Englishman fell into a performance gap this fall. Norwegian Erling Haaland, currently injured, is already considered the center forward of the future, scoring an average of more than one goal per game at BVB. Favre-sponsored American Giovanni Reyna and Youssoufa Moukoko, who turned 16 just a few weeks ago, should one day contribute millions to BVB. Englishman Jude Bellingham and Brazilian Reinier are other promising talents who have followed Favre’s excellent reputation as a coach.

Lost four of five games against archrivals

Despite the good work, Favre came early to the media criticism in the Ruhr. The trigger was the first season with Romand, when BVB gave up a temporary nine-point lead over Bayern Munich. Furthermore, Dortmund almost always lose in direct duels with the record champions; BVB lost four of the five games against Bayern with Favre, two of them very clearly. This is one of the reasons why the media din about Favre never died down, even though Dortmund’s squad is much weaker in terms of quality than Bayern’s.

Before moving to Dortmund in the summer of 2018, Favre coached Nice from Ligue 1. In the Bundesliga, the former head coach of FC Zurich was already active at Hertha Berlin and Borussia Mönchengladbach.