Bundesliga: Report: Bo Svensson to be new coach of Union Berlin

According to a media report, the Dane Bo Svensson will be the new head coach of 1. FC Union Berlin. The 44-year-old’s commitment should be announced this week, reported the pay-TV channel Sky. Svensson would succeed Nenad Bjelica, who was released shortly before the end of the season, and interim coach Marco Grote.

Since the Bundesliga was saved at the last minute, the former professional footballer was considered the preferred candidate of the Berliners, who had only recently announced Horst Heldt as the new managing director of professional football. As Sky reported, Svensson and Heldt are said to have met for final discussions.

Svensson coached FSV Mainz 05 until 2023 and was already considered a potential successor after Urs Fischer left. Oliver Ruhnert, who is becoming Union’s chief scout again at his own request, had extremely positive comments about Svensson at the weekend. “Why shouldn’t Bo Svensson fit in with Union? He worked really successfully in Mainz and is an experienced and committed Bundesliga coach. I think that could be a good fit,” said Ruhnert on the TV station Welt TV.

Coaching bench instead of teaching

Svensson takes over the Köpenickers at almost their lowest point in the sport. After a nerve-racking season with a long series of defeats, two coaching changes and a last-minute Bundesliga rescue, the unsettled team lacks self-confidence. The collective unity and determination that has allowed the Berliners to leave individually much better teams behind in recent years have rarely been evident recently.

The Dane is considered smart, empathetic and someone who questions his own behavior rather than that of his players. After retiring from professional football in 2014, he actually wanted to study and “maybe work as a teacher with young people,” as Svensson once reported. But his compatriot Kasper Hjulmand brought him onto the coaching staff of Mainz 05. Ten years later, Svensson has arrived in the capital.