5 assistants who became top dog | OneFootball

5 assistant coaches who stepped out of the shadows

Having once worked under Niko Kovač as his assistant at Bayern Munich, Hansi Flick has now faced his former boss for the first time as a head coach as Borussia Dortmund took on Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals. bundesliga.com takes a look at other assistants who have stepped out of the limelight to take the top job themselves...

WANT MORE NEWS LIKE THIS? FIND MORE ARTICLES ON THE OFFICIAL BUNDESLIGA APP.

Hansi Flick

Flick took the unusual step of becoming an assistant having previously held the top job, albeit with then lower-league outfit Hoffenheim prior to becoming Giovanni Trappatoni’s right-hand man at Red Bull Salzburg. It was with Joachim Löw that he formed his first successful partnership, however, as the two linked up for the Germany national team.

Together, they led the country to the final of UEFA Euro 2008, the semis four years later, the final four of the 2010 FIFA World Cup before their 2014 crowning glory in Brazil. Löw was later glowing in his appraisal of his second-in-command, saying, “Hansi worked with me for eight years. I know what he can do, what empathy he has. He speaks the language of the players and reaches them.”

After the World Cup, Flick became sporting director of the DFB for three years and followed that up with eight months in the same role at Hoffenheim. In July 2019, he was offered a pathway back into the dugout at Bayern by Kovač, but stepped into the interim head coach role just four months later.

Joachim Löw (r.) and assistant Flick (l.) won the FIFA World Cup together in 2014. (imago sportfotodienst/imago/Ulmer/Teamfoto)

Before long, he was given the position permanently, and it proved to be an inspired decision, with Flick's philosophy helping Bayern to the sextuple as he earned the UEFA Coach of the Year award for 2019/20. He ultimately departed that role to replace former partner in crime Löw for Germany, and while that ended sourly, he has rebuilt his reputation in Spain with Barcelona.

Joachim Löw

Like Flick, Löw had already tasted the pressure of being the man in charge by the time he was asked to support Germany head coach Jürgen Klinsmann in 2004. The former Freiburg player, who was the club’s all-time leading goalscorer before being surpassed by Nils Petersen in 2020, had been at the helm of VfB Stuttgart, Fenerbahçe and Karlsruhe, amongst others, before Klinsmann’s call.

German football was at a rare low at the time, with the group-stage exit at Euro 2004 their second in succession at the continental tournament. There was little positivity heading into the 2006 World Cup on home soil, yet Löw’s brains, accompanied by Klinsmann’s man-management skills, were behind what came to be known as the “Sommermärchen” – summer fairy tale.

Edin Terzić won the DFB Cup as Dortmund boss and also went close to Bundesliga and Champions League titles. (Alex Gottschalk/POOL/Alex Gottschalk/POOL)

A youthful Germany squad, including Bastian Schweinsteiger, Philipp Lahm, Lukas Podolski and Per Mertesacker, reached the semi-finals before succumbing to eventual winners Italy. When Klinsmann decided not to renew his contract following the end of the tournament, Löw was the outstanding candidate to succeed him. He was officially appointed on 12 July 2006, and the rest is history.

Disappointing group-stage exits at both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, as well as a round of 16 exit at Euro 2020, should not cloud an incredibly successful spell at the helm for Löw. He has won more matches (124) than any other Germany manager in history, and led his country to three finals and three semi-finals, with a Confederations Cup win to go alongside that World Cup triumph. He was replaced by Flick in 2021 and has been out of work since.

Edin Terzić

As is now common knowledge, Terzić has a lifelong connection with Dortmund, having supported the club as a youngster before initially joining the club as a scout in 2010. However, his first experience as an assistant coach came in Turkey and then the English Premier League, where he worked under Slaven  Bilić at Beşiktaş and West Ham United respectively.

Dino Toppmöller (l.) was Julian Nagelsmann's (r.) assistant at both RB Leipzig and Bayern Munich. (IMAGO/Sportfoto Rudel)

Eventually, though, the desire to return to Dortmund was too strong, and he supported Lucien Favre between 2018 and 2020. Favre was dismissed in December 2020, with Terzić selected to step into the breach on an interim basis.

His first stint at the reins produced silverware, with BVB lifting the DFB Cup by beating RB Leipzig 4-1 in the final under his tutelage. Still, the hierarchy gave the full-time position to Marco Rose, but when the latter moved on at the end of the 2021/22 term, Dortmund again turned to Terzić to fill the void.

He wasn’t able to add to the cup success the second time around, but he could hardly have gone much closer. Only a last-minute Jamal Musiala winner for Bayern against Cologne on the final day of the 2022/23 campaign denied Dortmund a first Meisterschale in 11 years, while they were beaten by Real Madrid in the final of the Champions League 12 months later. After that defeat, Terzić announced his decision to step down, and he has not worked since.

Dino Toppmöller

The son of former Germany international and 2002 German Manager of the Year Klaus and named after the legendary Italy goalkeeper Dino Zoff, expectations for Toppmöller Jr. were always going to be high. So far, though, he has dealt with the pressure at the highest level, which may have something to do with his rise through the managerial ranks.

After finishing his playing career in Luxembourg, he took over at F91 Dudelange in 2016 and led them to the group stages of the UEFA Europa League for the first ever time two years later, also obtaining a Luxembourg outfit’s maiden point in European competition in the process. After a brief spell with Virton in Belgium, he took up the place next to Julian Nagelsmann - himself a former assistant at Hoffenheim - in the Leipzig dugout in 2020.

When Nagelsmann made the switch to Munich a year later, Toppmöller followed, and the two masterminded the Bavarians’ 2021/22 Bundesliga title. Nagelsmann left the Allianz Arena in 2023, as did Toppmöller, but instead of waiting around for his previous boss’ next coaching venture, the ex-Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder took over at Deutsche Bank Park.

He has done well so far, leading the Eagles to a sixth-place finish in 2023/24, while they are now on course for a return to Europe’s premier club competition.

Jesse Marsch

One of the few American head coaches to be trusted with the top job at a club in one of Europe’s top five leagues, Marsch became Bob Bradley’s assistant with the US national team a matter of months after he had called time on a 13-year career spent entirely in the MLS.

The US reached the 2010 World Cup last 16 with Marsch involved, and after embarking on his head coach career in the country’s top flight, he travelled to Europe to work alongside Ralf Rangnick at Leipzig in 2018. Having coached New York Red Bulls, Marsch was now a fully fledged part of the Red Bull club network and was, therefore, an obvious choice to lead Salzburg.

Back-to-back Champions League campaigns for the Austrian outfit – for the first time in their history – attracted the attention of Leipzig, yet he only lasted six months there before being relieved of his duties in December 2021. His short tenure at Leeds United was similarly underwhelming, but he has bounced back as head coach of the Canada national side, taking them to fourth place in the 2024 Copa América.

LIKED THE ARTICLE? FIND MORE ARTICLES ON THE OFFICIAL BUNDESLIGA APP.