New Borussia Dortmund coach Peter Bosz has enjoyed an interesting and varied career to date. - © © imago / VI Images
New Borussia Dortmund coach Peter Bosz has enjoyed an interesting and varied career to date. - © © imago / VI Images

Ten things on new Borussia Dortmund head coach Peter Bosz

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It's official: Borussia Dortmund have a new coach - Dutchman Peter Bosz. The 53-year-old – who succeeds Thomas Tuchel in the BVB dugout - rose to continental prominence last season when leading Ajax to the final of the UEFA Europa League, the Dutch giants finally succumbing to Manchester United in the Solna showpiece.

bundesliga.com sheds some light on the new man in charge at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK...

1) Well travelled

Back in his native Netherlands, Bosz began his footballing life as a midfielder on loan to hometown club Apeldoorn from Vitesse Arnhem, before venturing on to Waalwijk, Feyernoord and Breda. He subsequently travelled abroad, plying his trade at SC Toulon while a double stint at Japanese side United Ichihara came either side of spells at Hansa Rostock and NAC Breda.

After bringing an end to his playing career, Bosz took up the reins at several Dutch clubs and even served as Feyenoord's technical director in 2006. Prior to taking charge at Ajax - where he had been in charge since last summer - the former midfielder briefly oversaw first-team affairs at Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Bosz previously sampled the big Bundesliga atmosphere as player with Hansa Rostock back in the 1990s. - © imago / Baumann

2) Bundesliga experience

Bosz previously sampled the Bundesliga atmosphere while at Rostock in the 1990s. The Dutchman made 14 appearances as a defensive midfielder for the Baltic Sea coast club during the second-half of the 1997/98 season. Although he failed to score a goal, he did manage an assist, teeing up Peter Dowe to score in a 2-2 draw against Kaiserslautern. Bosz's one and only Bundesliga campaign ended with an impressive sixth-place finish with Rostock, who even enjoyed a surprising 3-1 win over his new club Dortmund, the reigning European champions at the time.

3) Biggest success came with Feyernoord

No stranger to lifting silverware, Bosz was an Eredivisie champion in 1992/93 with Feyenoord and also lifted the Dutch Cup three times as a player with the team known as Die Stadionclub. Dortmund fans will no doubt be seeking similar success after their own five-year trophy drought came to an end with Tuchel overseeing May's DFB Cup win.

4) No shame in second

Prior to May's cup victory in Berlin, Dortmund endured the disappointment of being runners-up on seven occasions, in the Bundesliga, domestic cup and UEFA Champions League, between 2013 and 2016. Bosz knows that feeling, with his Ajax team just missing out on Europa League glory last time out, and finishing second to Feyenoord in the league.

Bosz's Ajax lost out to Jose Mourinho's Manchester United in May's Europa League final at the Friends Arena in Sweden . - © gettyimages / Alex Grimm

5) Late coaching breakthrough

Although Bosz won an amateur national league title with hometown club Apeldoorn in his first coaching stint in 2002, it was 14 years before he made his real breakthrough at Ajax, where his former team averaged an impressive 2.13 points per top-flight game during his 56-match spell in charge in Amsterdam.

6) Technical duties

The Dutchman also gained valuable experience away from the touchline. After a successful spell at Heracles, Bosz spent four years back in Rotterdam as the technical director at Feyernoord. Under his auspices, the club won two titles while the new Dortmund coach even had a hand in bringing Bert van Marwijk in as coach from Die Schwarz-Gelben in 2007.

7) A mixture of Klopp and Guardiola

Bosz's style of play combines a mixture of those advocated by two of the Bundesliga's most successful coaches of recent times. On the one hand, the style of football once used by Jürgen Klopp at Borussia sits well with Bosz. He enjoys quick, attacking football and the use of the famous Gegenpressing. His style also resembles that of former Bayern coach Pep Guardiola. Bosz likes his teams to keep possession using a quick-passing style. At Barcelona, Pep had a rule that a player should not be in possession of the ball for longer than three seconds. At Ajax, Bosz stated, "Barcelona had the three-second rule. We're not Barcelona, so I've introduced the two-second rule."

Watch: Talking tactics, Dortmund-style

8) A believer in youth

Peter Bosz has a clear philosophy for youth development, and that fits perfectly with the mentality at Dortmund. The Dutchman showed at Ajax that he is willing to give talented youngsters the playing time they need to develop into top players.

During his time in the Dutch capital, he relied on players such as Davison Sanchez (20), Bertrand Traore (21), Kasper Dolberg (19), Matthijs de Ligt (17) and Hakim Ziyech (24). Although young, players such as these are already the heart of the current Ajax team. In Dortmund, the likes of Ousmane Dembele, Christian Pulisic, Alexander Isak and Felix Passlack could all benefit from Bosz's influence.

9) His idol: Johan Cruyff

Bosz was quoted in The Guardian as saying: "I knew when I was 16 that I'd be a coach. I used to write down everything my coach did right in terms of preparation. I also learned a lot about Johan Cruyff." Bosz and some friends created a book with articles and interviews from Cruyff which was styled with attack, defence and tactics in mind.

A key moment arrived during Bosz's time in Tel Aviv where Cruyff's son Jordi was a technical director. "He came to Israel shortly before Johan died," Bosz explained. "We spent an entire week together. It was fantastic. I had that book I compiled, but I was now really speaking to a Cruyff. I learned enough to serve me for ten years in that week."

Peter Bosz will be hopeful of emulating the impressive points-per-game ratio at Dortmund he enjoyed with Ajax. - © imago / VI Images

10) Bosz the family guy

The new Dortmund boss is father to sons - both footballers - Gino and Sonny, and daughter Bo from his first wife Anette. He is also a grandfather. Gino plays for Cambuur in the Dutch second tier, while Sonny is at his father's former club Apeldoorn. Bosz has been married to his second wife Jolyn for six years. His first interview as Ajax coach was given to his niece Joy and published on her blog.

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