Dortmund updates: Ricken succeeds Watzke, Mislintat returns

Borussia Dortmund announced some big management decisions on Monday.

As confirmed by the Bundesliga outfit, current academy manager Lars Ricken has been named new head of sporting department on a contract until 2027.

He will take over the sporting duties from Hans-Joachim Watzke, who will remain on the board of directors until the end of 2025 and will continue to be responsible for human resources, communications and strategy until that point.

Ricken will also work with the other two Executive Board members, Thomas Treß (responsible for Finance, Organization, Legal & Investor Relations) and Carsten Cramer (responsible for Sales & Marketing, Internationalization and Digitalization).

Sebastian Kehl, who many expected to be Watzke's successor, will continue his work as sporting director.

"We are delighted that Lars Ricken is taking over responsibility for sports within the management team. He has been instrumental in making Dortmund's youth academy by far the most successful German youth academy of the past ten years," said BVB President Dr. Reinhold Lunow.

"BVB regularly celebrates titles with our own young players, many talents have made the leap into the BVB professional squad, numerous young talents have made it into the various European professional leagues and multiplied their market value. Lars Ricken's expertise, his large network and his enormous identification with his home club, with which he also celebrated great successes as a player, will enrich the management."

Borussia Dortmund also announced that the club's former chief scout Sven Mislintat will return as technical director with a focus on squad planning.