Borussia Mönchengladbach's Search for a New Coach Amid Crisis
Borussia Mönchengladbach are staring at the table, and the table is staring back.
Three games, three defeats, 3:12 goals, zero points. Seventeenth place in the Bundesliga, only HSV worse with 0:12. The 0:5 collapse at SC Freiburg didn’t just sting; it closed the chapter on Eugen Polanski. Now the search for his successor has become the most important project at the club.
Four million to fix a crisis
According to Bild, sporting director Rouven Schröder has been handed a budget of around four million euros to find the next head coach. For a club in Gladbach’s position, that is a clear signal: this appointment cannot be a gamble on the cheap. If compensation is due for the right candidate, they are prepared to pay it.
Schröder is not working alone. His predecessor Roland Virkus, now operating in the Scouting & Recruitment directorate in the specialist area of “coach scouting” since July, is also combing through the shortlist. Between them, they must identify the coach who can drag a rattled team out of a tailspin that has started alarmingly early in the season.
Priske tops a crowded shortlist
One name keeps surfacing. Brian Priske, currently in charge of Sparta Prague, is reportedly high on Gladbach’s list. Danish outlet Tipsbladet has linked the 49-year-old Dane strongly with the vacancy, while Bild also places him among the leading options. The exact length of his contract in Prague remains unclear, but with a transfer budget in place, Gladbach will not be deterred by a buyout figure if they decide he is the man.
Priske is not the only candidate in play. Bild lists Alexander Blessin, most recently at St. Pauli, Horst Steffen of SV Werder Bremen, Christian Eichner of Karlsruher SC and Steffen Baumgart, currently at Union Berlin, as further names under consideration. Different profiles, different temperaments – and one particularly explosive backstory.
Baumgart: the rival who knows Gladbach
Of all the options, Baumgart would bring the sharpest edge. Before his stints in Berlin and at HSV, he coached none other than Gladbach’s arch-rivals 1. FC Köln. With the Billy Goats, he delivered a remarkable first season, hauling them to seventh place and into the UEFA Europa Conference League. Ninety-eight competitive matches, a surge of energy, then the downturn: in December 2023, Köln and their long-popular coach went their separate ways after form dipped.
His past on the wrong side of the Rhine derby line would not disqualify him. Quite the opposite. Those inside the club see a coach hardened by setbacks, one who has already handled pressure in a volatile environment. Decision-makers also value another detail: Baumgart has already dealt intensively with Gladbach as an opponent. He would not arrive needing a crash course of video sessions just to understand the squad and the club’s dynamics.
For a team in a precarious position after only three matchdays, that familiarity carries weight.
A club on the brink of trouble
Polanski’s story underlines how unforgiving the job has become. The 40-year-old initially stepped in as interim coach last season following the dismissal of Gerardo Seoane. Even before this campaign began, questions surrounded whether he was the long-term answer. The numbers finally caught up with him: an average of just 1.10 points from 29 matches, capped by the humiliation in Freiburg.
Now Gladbach stand near the bottom, with a defence leaking goals and confidence evaporating. The next coach must stabilise a side that has already been dragged into a relegation conversation before autumn has truly started.
The shortlist is drawn up. The money is there. The crisis is real. Whoever walks into Borussia-Park next will not just be taking a job; he will be taking on a rescue mission.
