MAccording to media reports, ax Eberl wants to resign as sports director at Borussia Mönchengladbach. The Bild newspaper, the broadcaster Sky, the “Kicker”, Sport1 and the sports information service (sid) all reported on Thursday evening that the 48-year-old was planning his resignation. According to Sky, the search for a successor is already underway within the club. If the resignation is to take place exactly, it is still open. This is possible in the next few days or at the latest at the end of the season, wrote Sky.
The picture reported that Eberl Gladbach boss Rolf Königs should have asked for a release from the post of sports director on January 31st. The 80-year-old is said to have refused. According to information from Sport 1, the club is said to have already contacted possible successors.
Eberl, who has been working as a sports director for his “Herzensklub” since October 2008 and has been with the club for 23 years, is said to have sought talks with part of the team on Thursday evening. Bild and Sky did not name a source. The “kicker” and the sports information service (sid) also informed about Eberl’s request. According to the sid, this has even been fixed for days. An indication of this is probably the erratic appearance of the sports director at a press conference before the cup game at Hannover 96 (0: 3), at which the former defender twice called his coach Adi Hütter “Dieter”. In Hanover, like in the home game against Union Berlin (1: 2), he was no longer on the bench, according to Borussia “ill”.
According to sid, private life should also have played a role in the possible farewell. Eberl is in a relationship with the Swiss Sedrina Schaller (33), whom he brought to the club in May as an “assistant team manager”. Both had made the relationship, which is said to have been viewed critically within the club, public in October. At the turn of the year, Schaller left the club at his own request, according to Borussia.
Champions League with Borussia
Eberl’s services to the club are undisputed. Since the relegation in 2011, Borussia has always landed in the single digits for ten years in a row – otherwise only Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund have managed that. During this time, the traditional club has reached the Champions League three times and the Europa League three times.
Eberl came to the foals as a professional at the beginning of 1999. From 2004 he worked as a youth coordinator, in 2008 he was promoted to sports director. With talent, but also first-class transfers, Eberl rebuilt Borussia. His masterpiece is still the purchase of Marco Reus from the then second division club Rot Weiss Ahlen. Other top purchases included the Brazilian Dante, the Swiss Granit Xhaka, Christoph Kramer and Max Kruse.
In 2017, Bayern Munich tried to sign him. But the native of Lower Bavaria stayed on the Lower Rhine, where he was responsible for the external presentation almost as a one-man show, which also cost energy. “At some point,” Eberl kept saying, “I’d like to win a title with Borussia Mönchengladbach,” something “tinny.” This goal now appears to be unfulfilled.
Eberl’s contract with Borussia is actually valid until the end of June 2026. Due to the massive sporting crisis in the current season, he too came under criticism. Before the season, he had brought Adi Hütter from Eintracht Frankfurt for 7.5 million euros to succeed Marco Rose, whose early departure from Gladbach to Borussia Dortmund had already led to discord. After 20 games this season, Gladbacher Borussia is only in twelfth place under Hütter. With 22 points, the club is only two points ahead of the relegation rank.
