Borussia Dortmund made a surprise trip to the 2024 UEFA Champions League final, setting up a huge matchup against Real Madrid. And one cannot talk about the German side’s run without mentioning coach Edin Terzic.
Born in October 30, 1982 to parents who had immigrated from Yugoslavia, Terzic started to fall for Dortmund during his childhood in Menden. As he grew up, Terzic had a career in the lower leagues of Germany while he paid for his studies at Ruhr University in Bochum, where he studied Sports Science.
That’s also where he met Hannes Wolf, then chief scout of Borussia Dortmund. When Wolf offered him a job in 2010, Terzic didn’t hesitate to hang up his boots to start working on the sidelines.
None other than Jurgen Klopp had also arrived at the club that year, so it was a time where Dortmund started to reach new heights both on the domestic and continental stage.
Terzic’s first years at Dortmund during the Jurgen Klopp era
While Terzic served both as a scout and as an assistant coach at Dortmund’s academy; Dortmund celebrated two Bundesliga titles, a DFP Cup triumph and a Champions League final appearance in 2013 on Klopp’s watch.
11 years later, Terzic will be looking to get the job done at the same venue when Dortmund play Real Madrid at Wembley, where they lost to Bayern back then. But let’s go back to Terzic’s early days at the club.
Just when he was about to land his first head coaching gig at Dortmund’s U16 side in 2013, Terzic was tempted to join Slaven Bilic as an assistant at Turkish giants Besiktas.
The making of Terzic coach: experience in Turkey and England before Dortmund return
Curiously, he had previously drawn the Croat’s interest by offering the veteran coach a pre-game opponent analysis on Ireland ahead of Croatia’s participation in the Euro 2012 group stage. Their collaboration continued in the Premier League, with the German following Bilic at West Ham between 2015 and 2017.
While Terzic appreciated Bilic taking him under his wing, he eventually felt it was time for him to find his own path. After getting his UEFA Pro Licence in 2018, Terzic returned to Dortmund to join Lucien Favre’s staff at the senior squad.
With Favre gone halfway through the 2020-21, Terzic took charge of the team on an interim basis. At 38, he turned Dortmund’s fortunes around just in time to secure a DFB Pokal title as well as a ticket to the 2021-22 Champions League.
Terzic was already coaching an established star in Marco Reus and generational talents in Erling Haaland and Jadon Sancho that term, but moved on to the technical director role as Marco Rose took over in the summer of 2021.
2022: A long-awaited chance as Dortmund’s permanent HC
However, it didn’t take long for Terzic to be back on the dugout, with Rose leaving the following year. In his first season, Dortmund came really close to winning their first Bundesliga title in more than a decade, but got their hearts broken with a painful draw at home in the 2022-23 season finale.
Far from letting this huge blow destroy what Terzic was building at the club, Dortmund bounced back with a wonderful Champions League campaign in the 2023-24.
The Black and Yellow survived the so-called “group of death” with PSG, AC Milan and Newcastle, claiming the top spot against all odds. Their performance in the knockout stages has been even more impressive, with Terzic’s boys leaving PSV, Atletico Madrid, and PSG on the way en route to London.
Now, Terzic is looking to go one step further by taking his boyhood club to European glory. His story is definitely straight out of a script, going from fan, scout, assistant, interim coach, and technical director to manager at his beloved Borussia Dortmund. Will this story have a happy ending at Wembley?
