Borussia Dortmund names second-division exec as sporting director

Borussia Dortmund has dipped into the German second division to appoint a new sporting director who won praise for making impactful transfers on a budget. Ole Book steps up from Elversberg, a team from a town of around 13,000 people. That's less than one-sixth of the capacity of Dortmund's stadium. He'll replace Sebastian Kehl, who had been sporting director since 2022, including for Dortmund's run to the 2024 UEFA Champions League final. He left with Dortmund 9 points off Bundesliga leader Bayern Munich and with uncertainty over the future of key defender Nico Schlotterbeck , who has a year left on his contract. "In our conversations we soon noticed that Ole has an extremely great hunger for success, high ambitions and tremendous team spirit," Dortmund's spokesman for the management Carsten Cramer said in a statement. "This aligns with our values and what we want to embody at Boruss