Niko Kovač, Thomas Tuchel and the men who've coached Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund
As arguably the two biggest clubs in the Bundesliga, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund have attracted some of the best coaching talent Germany and the world have to offer. Some have even coached both, with Niko Kovač the latest to do so after joining the Black-Yellows. bundesliga.com takes a look at the men who have stood in the two Klassiker dugouts...
Niko Kovač
Bayern: June 2018 – November 2019
Dortmund: February 2025 –
A Bundesliga and DFB Cup winner with Bayern as a player, Kovač returned as head coach for the start of the 2018/19 campaign after guiding Eintracht Frankfurt to the 2018 DFB Cup - a triumph that included a win in the final over the record champions. His appointment made him just the fourth ex-player to also coach Bayern after Søren Lerby, Franz Beckenbauer, and Jürgen Klinsmann, and he enjoyed success during his 18 months at the Allianz Arena.
His reign kicked off with a 5-0 Supercup win over his former club, which set the tone for a season that ultimately returned a league and cup double, making him the first person in German football history to win a league and cup double as a player and coach. Despite some positive results at the start of the following term, ironically a 5-1 loss to his former club, Frankfurt, saw him dismissed. After spells with Monaco and Wolfsburg, Dortmund decided he was the man to succeed Nuri Şahin after he was let go at the start of 2025.
Watch: Niko Kovač's first words as Borussia Dortmund coach
Thomas Tuchel
Dortmund: July 2015 – May 2017
Bayern: March 2023 – May 2024
Tuchel burst onto the scene at Mainz, guiding the 05ers to just their second and third European qualifications, but it was at Dortmund that he gained recognition outside of Germany. Following Jürgen Klopp would always be difficult, but Tuchel did an impressive job at Signal Iduna Park.
In 2015/16, Dortmund notched a club-record 82 Bundesliga goals, while also racking up 78 points – the second-highest in BVB history and enough to have won the title in all but three of the previous 52 seasons. However, Dortmund were up against Pep Guardiola’s Bayern, who beat them to the title and also prevailed when the two sides met in the DFB Cup final. While a third-placed finish came the following term, Tuchel claimed the DFB Cup to ensure he departed on a high.
Spells aboard with Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea – where he lifted the UEFA Champions League – preceded a return to the Bundesliga with Bayern after Julian Nagelsmann left towards the end of the 2022/23 season. Tuchel’s first assignment was a convincing 4-2 victory over Dortmund. He inflicted further misery on his former employers, too, pipping them to the title thanks to a last-minute Jamal Musiala winner against Cologne on the season's final day.
That was as good as it got, though, as Bayern's reign was ended by an almost flawless Bayer Leverkusen side in 2023/24. In late February 2024, the club confirmed Tuchel would leave at the end of the season - Bayern's first without a trophy since 2011/12. He is now in charge of the England national team.
Watch: Thomas Tuchel's impressive career path
Want more Bundesliga Action?
Ottmar Hitzfeld
Dortmund: July 1991 – June 1997
Bayern: July 1998 – June 2004; February 2007 – June 2008
Two Swiss Super League titles earned Hitzfeld the opportunity to manage Dortmund in the early 1990s, at which point the Ruhr club had never won the Bundesliga. That all changed over the next six years, though, as their new boss led them to two league triumphs, in 1994/95 and 1995/96. The crowning glory, however, was Dortmund's Champions League success in 1997, when they beat Juventus 3-1 in the final in Munich.
Hitzfeld subsequently moved into the boardroom, but it soon became apparent that he had unfinished business on the touchline. When the head coach role at Bayern became available, the former Olympian jumped at the chance and helped return the team to their dominant former selves. In his first season, the title was won by 15 points - one of four league titles across a six-season first spell in charge. There was a 2000/01 Champions League trophy to celebrate, too.
Hitzfeld took a three-year break from coaching before stepping into the breach at Bayern midway through 2006/07 after Felix Magath’s exit. He was unable to claw back the gap to the top of the league as his squad finished fourth, but the signings of Franck Ribéry, Miroslav Klose and Luca Toni helped Bayern complete a domestic treble, including the now defunct Liga-Pokal. With nothing left to achieve at club level, Hitzfeld took over the Switzerland national team in 2008, before retiring altogether in 2014.
Udo Lattek
Bayern: March 1970 – January 1975; July 1983 – June 1987
Dortmund: July 1979 – May 1981; April 2000 – June 2000
Bayern have had their fair share of legends, but few come close to matching Lattek’s achievements. His success is even more remarkable considering his first appointment in 1970 was his maiden head coach role, and he wasted little time populating his personal trophy cabinet. He initially spent four full seasons at the club and won the title in three of them, making Bayern the first team to stand on the podium's top step on three consecutive occasions. Also under his tutelage, Bayern did what no German team before them had managed by winning the European Cup, defeating Atlético Madrid in the 1973/74 final.
Not content with dispatching all in his path in Bavaria, Lattek spent four years doing the same at Borussia Mönchengladbach before joining Dortmund in 1979. His time there was contrastingly different from his two previous roles, as he left trophyless. He then returned to Bayern in 1983, via Barcelona, and it was like he had never been away, winning another three league titles alongside two DFB Cups.
That proved to be his last long-term position, and after a combined 20 matches with Cologne and Schalke, he came out of retirement to manage Dortmund for five games at the end of the 1999/2000 season. Able to steer them away from the drop, he returned to his job as a TV pundit and columnist, before his death on 31 January 2015, aged 80.
Otto Rehhagel
Dortmund: July 1976 – April 1978
Bayern: July 1995 – April 1996
The head coach with more games under his belt (836) than anyone else in Bundesliga history, Rehhagel was just six years into his professional journey when he was appointed Dortmund boss in 1976. It is fair to say his tenure was not the most successful, with his time at the club best known for setting the record for the heaviest defeat in the German top flight when the Black-Yellows were hammered 12-0 by Mönchengladbach on the final day of the 1977/78 term.
Later stints with Fortuna Düsseldorf and Werder Bremen were more memorable – the latter, in fact, was trophy-laden – and, by the time he was brought in at Bayern, he was one of Germany’s leading lights. Yet that did not translate into instant success on the pitch, as the Bavarians finished second in the Bundesliga, ironically, to Dortmund. Ultimately, Rehhagel was sacked four days before the first leg of the UEFA Cup final, which was won by his replacement, the legendary Beckenbauer. Rehhagel, though, had the last laugh, winning a historic Bundesliga title with Kaiserslautern before leading Greece to an even more unexpected UEFA Euro 2004 win.
Erich Ribbeck
Dortmund: October 1984 – June 1985
Bayern: March 1992 – December 1993
Dortmund were not quite the powerhouse they are now when Ribbeck was at the helm for most of the 1984/85 campaign. It was an uneventful season for the team, who finished 14th while losing 17 matches, the second-highest number of defeats in Dortmund history. That didn’t stop Leverkusen from acquiring his services, and the pairing was a match in heaven, with Ribbeck securing the first major trophy in the Werkself’s history as they won the 1987/88 UEFA Cup.
When Bayern came calling in 1992, Ribbeck’s job was to guide them away from a relegation battle, which he did with relative ease. Significant improvement occurred the following season, but they still missed out on the Bundesliga title on the final day to Bremen. Munich were just a point off the summit when Ribbeck left in December 1993. Only another spell at Leverkusen and two years as national team head coach separated his Bayern exit and retirement in 2000.
Reinhard Saftig
Bayern: May 1983 – June 1983
Dortmund: October 1984 – October 1984; April 1986 – June 1988
Saftig made his name as Pál Csernai’s assistant at Bayern, but when the Hungarian was dismissed towards the end of the 1982/83 season, he stepped in to take control of the last three matches of the campaign. In the summer of 1984, he switched to Dortmund where he was, at first, second in command to a series of coaches - Timo Konietzka, Ribbeck and Csernai once more - while also taking on one match as interim head coach in October 1984.
Like at Bayern, Csernai’s downfall was Saftig’s gain, only this time he was given the position permanently. After avoiding relegation at the end of 1986/87, the following season saw qualification for the UEFA Cup, but he couldn’t follow that success up. He then became something of a journeyman, coaching several Bundesliga clubs, including Leverkusen, before returning to Dortmund in 1997 as chief scout.
Pál Csernai
Bayern: March 1979 – May 1983
Dortmund: July 1985 – April 1986
Csernai had to earn his stripes as assistant to compatriot Gyula Lóránt, but that put him in pole position to take over at Bayern when the latter was relieved of his duties in 1979. The Hungarian enjoyed four fantastic years at the helm, winning successive Bundesliga titles in 1980 and 1981, along with the 1982 DFB Cup. Nevertheless, all good things must come to an end, as they did in 1983.
Csernai managed to cram in jobs at PAOK and Benfica before returning to Germany in 1985, this time with Dortmund. He could not rekindle his old magic, though, and lasted fewer than 12 months before Saftig stepped in for him once more. A colourful remainder of his career ensued, including time with the North Korea national team, before he hung up his famous silk scarf in 1995. He passed away in 2013.
Branko Zebec
Bayern: July 1968 – March 1970
Dortmund: July 1981 – June 1982
Zebec moved to Munich from Dinamo Zagreb in 1968 and immediately implemented his now renowned defensive style of play. It had the desired effect, as a team including Beckenbauer, Sepp Maier and Gerd Müller won the first double in German football history. The 1969/70 season, though, did not reach the same heights, as Zebec was removed from his duties prematurely after confirming he would not extend his contract.
His career then took him to VfB Stuttgart, Hajduk Split, Eintracht Braunschweig and Hamburg – where he won his second Bundesliga title in 1979 – prior to his one-season Dortmund stint. The sixth-placed finish he achieved was BVB’s joint-best in 12 years, but personal problems led to his exit. Frankfurt and Zagreb were his last two stops before retirement. He died in 1988.
Related news
Who are the Bundesliga's coaches in 2023/24?
Find out which 18 coaches will be prowling the Bundesliga touchlines in the coming season...
Kovač: "I want to take Dortmund back to the top"
The former Bayern and Frankfurt coach has provided his first words in the BVB hotseat.
Who is Gio Reyna?
After making his 100th Bundesliga appearance recently, we shine the light on the Dortmund attacker once dubbed 'the American Dream' by Erling Haaland.