Borussia M’gladbach appoint Alexander Blessin to revive bottom-placed side

Borussia M’gladbach have appointed Alexander Blessin as their new head coach in the hope of recovering from a disastrous start to the season. Bottom of the Bundesliga, the club have yet to earn a single point after four defeats in their first four matchdays.

Blessin replaces Eugen Polanski, who was dismissed on 13 September. His assistant Jan-Moritz Lichte took charge on an interim basis on Saturday but was unable to halt the losing run, as Gladbach lost 3-4 to Mainz. The new coach has signed a contract running until 2028.

Before this appointment, Alexander Blessin had managed Sankt Pauli for the past two seasons. He had succeeded Fabian Hürzeler, who left the Hamburg side to take charge of Brighton days after securing promotion to the Bundesliga.

Blessin kept Sankt Pauli in Germany’s top flight in his first season, but could not prevent relegation at the end of the next one. He was then dismissed in June. That spell was his first as a head coach in German football, following eight years with RB Leipzig’s youth teams after being recruited by Ralf Rangnick.

His career also includes spells in Belgium and Italy, with KV Oostende from 2020 to 2022, Genoa in 20212, and Union Saint-Gilloise from 2023 to 2024. He won the Belgian Cup with the Belgian club.