Borussia Dortmund appoint Ole Book as new sporting director
Borussia Dortmund have named Ole Book as their new sporting director, succeeding Sebastian Kehl, on a deal through to the end of the 2028/29 season.
Book, 40, arrives from Elversberg, where the former Rot Weiss Ahlen, Duisburg and Wehen Wiesbaden player began working as a scout in 2017. He became sporting director the following year and was then promoted to board level in 2023.
“We’ve been able to bring in our desired candidate for the role of sporting director in Ole. I’ve been following his outstanding work at Elversberg for a long time and am firmly convinced that Ole is the right fit for us in a professional and personal sense,” said Dortmund CEO Lars Ricken of the man chosen to replace Kehl, who departed the club on Sunday.
“With him in charge, Elversberg have made the step up to the second division, producing lots of young players along the way and creating value for the squad. We’ve got great trust in Ole and his expertise to find creative and courageous ideas in the transfer market,” Ricken added.
Under Book’s guidance, Elversberg achieved back-to-back promotions from the Regionalliga up to Bundesliga 2 in 2022 and 2023, before very nearly reaching the Bundesliga in 2025, only missing out via the play-off against Heidenheim.
“Borussia Dortmund is one of the biggest clubs in Europe, and I’m looking forward to giving my all here. I want to play my part in guiding BVB into a successful future,” said Book, who begins his tenure on Wednesday, when he will be officially unveiled at a press conference.
Dortmund go into the March international break nine points adrift of Bayern Munich at the Bundesliga summit and out of both the DFB Cup and UEFA Champions League.
The club has previously confirmed that the likes of Julian Brandt and Niklas Süle will be leaving in the summer once their contracts expire, but Felix Nmecha, Luca Reggiani and captain Emre Can have recently penned new deals to remain at Signal Iduna Park into next season and beyond.
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