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Lucien Favre is no longer the coach of Borussia Dortmund. According to the daily “Bild”, BVB released the 63-year-old Vaud player one day after the 1: 5 loss in the Bundesliga to VfB Stuttgart.
Saturday’s bloodless appearance against the newcomer sent the barrel overflowing and prompted club boss Hans-Joachim Watzke to act. BVB officials released the Swiss immediately on Sunday, which means that discussions about a possible continuation of cooperation after the end of the contract that expires next summer are superfluous.
“Catastrophe” against Stuttgart
The 1: 5 match against Stuttgart was Dortmund’s third winless game in the Bundesliga. Watzke spoke of a “black day”, for Captain Marco Reus it was a “shameful appearance”. Favre himself called the debacle a “catastrophe.” 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 Europe’s best team, with the best point average of a Dortmund manager 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.
Favre and his reputation as a talent coach
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.
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.
