Borussia Mönchengladbach's Urgent Search for a New Coach
Borussia Mönchengladbach are staring at the table from the wrong end, and the search for a new head coach has turned urgent rather than strategic.
According to Bild, sporting director Rouven Schröder has around four million euros at his disposal to solve the problem on the touchline. That figure gives Gladbach room to manoeuvre: they are prepared to pay compensation if the right coach is under contract elsewhere. This is not a bargain hunt. It is damage control.
One name keeps circling to the top of the list: Brian Priske of Sparta Prague. The Danish coach is, according to Tipsbladet, a leading candidate in Schröder’s thinking. The exact length of the 49-year-old’s contract in the Czech top flight is unclear, but with a transfer budget set, Gladbach know they can at least open the conversation with Sparta if they decide Priske is their man.
He is far from the only option.
Bild reports that Alexander Blessin (most recently at St. Pauli), Horst Steffen (currently at SV Werder Bremen), Christian Eichner (Karlsruher SC) and Steffen Baumgart (Union Berlin) are all on the shortlist. Schröder is not working alone on this. His predecessor Roland Virkus, now operating in the Scouting & Recruitment directorate with a focus on “coach scouting” since July, is also heavily involved in the process.
The profiles differ, the pressure does not. Among those candidates, one stands out for sheer presence: Baumgart.
Baumgart, the rival who knows the Rhine
Baumgart would arrive with a history that hardly leaves Gladbach fans indifferent. Before his recent stints in Berlin and at HSV, he coached none other than arch-rivals 1. FC Köln. And he did not just pass through. In his first season with the Billy Goats, he drove them to a stunning seventh place, earning a spot in the Conference League and sparking a surge of enthusiasm in Cologne.
Across 98 matches, Baumgart became a cult figure on the sidelines before a sporting downturn led to his departure in December 2023. The split ended a partnership that had reshaped Köln’s identity, at least for a while.
Now his name is back on the Rhine – on the other side.
Despite his Köln past, Baumgart ticks many boxes for Gladbach’s hierarchy. They want a coach with Bundesliga experience, someone who has survived crises, not just ridden waves of form. Decision-makers also value the fact that Baumgart has already dealt intensively with Gladbach as an opponent. He knows the squad, the stadium, the atmosphere. He would not arrive needing weeks of video study to understand what is going wrong.
And things are going badly.
A table that tells a brutal story
After only three matchdays, the situation is already described internally as precarious. Gladbach sit 17th in the Bundesliga, still on zero points with a goal difference of 3:12. Only HSV, goalless and stuck at 0:12, are worse off.
The low point so far came last weekend. Away at SC Freiburg, Borussia collapsed in a 0:5 defeat, a performance so alarming that it effectively sealed the fate of coach Eugen Polanski.
Polanski, 40, had initially stepped in on an interim basis last season after Gerardo Seoane was dismissed. Even before the new campaign began, doubts lingered over whether he was the long-term solution. Once promoted to permanent head coach, he collected an average of just 1.10 points over 29 matches. In a club with Gladbach’s ambitions, that number speaks loudly.
Now the club must decide what kind of figure they want on the touchline: a tactician like Priske from abroad, a builder like Eichner, a returning Bundesliga presence like Blessin or Steffen, or a combustible, battle-tested personality like Baumgart.
The shortlist is drawn up. The budget is set. The league table leaves no room for delay.
