Interview
Nuri Sahin reflects on the year: "I wouldn't miss a second of it"
More responsibility, more limelight, more pressure - the demands on Nuri Sahin have tangibly increased since his promotion from assistant coach to head coach in the summer. That hasn't harmed the joy he gets from his work, though. One year after his return to his sporting home from the Turkish first league team Antalyaspor, the 36-year-old takes stock in an interview with BVB-TV: "2024 was great, emotional - sometimes uncomfortable too. Even so, I wouldn't miss a second of it."
Looking back at the past twelve months in an environment very familiar to him sharpens his senses for 2025: "I want us to be winners. I want us to get to the stage where people don't talk about us being inconsistent any more. We can do that - that's what I work for every single day."
Sahin's confidence should rub off on the team. As he did when he took on the role of head coach, the Borussian has asked for patience as the year comes to an end. Nevertheless, he has made no secret of his dissatisfaction with his team's place in the table this side of the Champions League: "In the Bundesliga we're definitely not where we see ourselves being, where we should be. It's completely normal that that's viewed critically - including by me. We had too many ups and downs."
Among the highlights of the past year were various performances in the European Champions League. Magical nights of football like the 4-2 result in the quarter final against Atletico Madrid or the semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain (1-0) still fill Sahin with elation. He thinks back less fondly on the unlucky defeat in the final on the first of June against Real Madrid (0-2), at which time he was assistant coach to Edin Terzic. "That was the only thing on this journey that wasn't so great. Because I left Wembley empty-handed for the second time," said Sahin, referring to the 1-2 defeat in the final that took place in the same stadium in 2013 against FC Bayern, when Sahin was still a first team player.
Born in Lüdenscheid, the pace-setter of the victorious 2011 Dortmund team is the fifth BVB coach to have previously worn the Black&Yellow shirt, after Dieter „Hoppy“ Kurrat (1974), Timo Konietzka (1984), Bernd Krauss (2000) and Matthias Sammer (2000 until 2004). He is of the opinion that this has its challenges: "That's one of the first things that I learned. You have to leave the player Nuri Sahin behind when you become a coach. That won't help you much." Nevertheless, he feels that the experience helps with understanding "how the changing room ticks."
This feeling for the mood of the team could help with the search for better consistency. Regarding the many "ups and downs", Sahin spoke about "congestion": "It's a fact. We have a crisis when it comes to results, I can't tiptoe around that. And we need to solve that together." He points out deficits openly and self-critically: "We kept having setbacks in the development phase. I expect of myself and of my team that our performance is more solid. We need to achieve that as soon as possible."
Above all else, what is needed is a reversal of the trend in the away games. After gaining only five points in seven away games so far, Sahin sees an urgent need for action: "I hope that we'll win a few away games too so that the boys can also celebrate with the fans when they're playing away."
According to Sahin, Borussia's spell of extreme bad luck with injuries in the first part of the season, which repeatedly made it necessary to make changes to the team, can only partially explain the significant inconsistencies in form: "That's only part of the truth. There were lots of factors that meant we sometimes didn't play well and didn't bring the performance that we expect from ourselves."
Being knocked out of the Cup in the second round at the end of October by VfL Wolfsburg (0-1 with extra time) is still particularly painful for Sahin: "If I only had one wish and I could go back and change something, it would be that."
Meanwhile, the coach also remembers the strong performances very well, such as the decisive 7-1 win in the Champions League against Celtic Glasgow, or the 2-1 win at the beginning of November against Leipzig, who had previously been unbeaten for weeks in the Bundesliga. The powerful football that the team is capable of on good days was also evident in the game against FC Barcelona. The courageous performance in the game against the top Spanish team won the Borussians a lot of praise, despite the 2-3 defeat. "This year I've already seen the direction things can take when we become more consistent," said Sahin.
He doesn't have much time left to prepare his first team for the demandingly packed schedule in the second phase of the league and the FIFA World Cup in the USA. Because of the short winter break, which will end on 10th January with the game against defending champions Bayer Leverkusen, the coach decided to go without the training camp in Marbella in Spain, which had been obligatory in previous years. "The two days spent travelling would have cost us two trainings sessions. We want to prepare ourselves as well as possible for the long second phase of the season, and we have top conditions to do that here," said Sahin.
The coach clearly summarised what he expects of himself and the first team in the new year: "We all need to be aware of what a great team we're playing for. Anyone who isn't aware of that isn't in the right place."