Can Klopp disciple Terzic become Dortmund's Flick?
Edin Terzic is to take charge of Borussia Dortmund until the end of the season, but who is the man stepping in to replace Lucien Favre?
Borussia Dortmund dismissed head coach Lucien Favre on Monday (AEDT), with unheralded assistant Edin Terzic promoted to take charge until the end of the campaign.
Favre's sacking came on the back of a humiliating 5-1 loss to Stuttgart on Sunday (AEDT) - BVB suffering a third straight home loss in the Bundesliga for the first time since 2013-2014, and its heaviest at the Westfalenstadion in over a decade.
Rather than turn to a big-name replacement, Dortmund followed the blueprint of title rival Bayern Munich in promoting from within by placing Terzic in charge of first-team affairs.
Following the treble-winning success of Hansi Flick at Bayern upon replacing Niko Kovac in November 2019, Dortmund will now be hoping for a positive outcome themselves over the coming months.
But exactly who is Terzic and what are his strong ties to another Champions League winning boss in Jurgen Klopp?
Getting the breaks
Terzic represented four different clubs across a seven-year playing career, none of those teams plying their trade higher than the fourth tier of German football at the time.
His coaching breakthrough came during a three-year spell at Dortmund from 2010 when working as assistant for several of the youth sides up to under-19s level.
He also spent time working as a scout during Klopp's time in charge, a similar position to the one previously held by David Wagner, most recently in charge of Schalke.
Terzic later said of Klopp, when his appointment was announced by Liverpool: "He is very intelligent, he is funny and he is very successful."
The 38-year-old Terzic, looking to advance his own career, took the decision to work abroad and spent four years outside Germany, first at Super Lig side Besiktas and then with West Ham in the Premier League.
Terzic worked as assistant to Slaven Bilic in both of those jobs, having previously been approached to join the Croatian at Lokomotiv Moscow.
Hammer blow leads to new opportunities
Bilic's sacking as West Ham boss in November 2017 subsequently left Terzic without a job but he used the time wisely, completing the English FA's highest coaching qualification badge the following year.
Among others to graduate from the 18-month course that year were Nicky Butt, Nigel Clough, David James, Graham Potter and Nemanja Vidic.
Terzic was back at Dortmund in 2018, this time as assistant first-team coach to Favre, the man he would go on to succeed in a caretaker basis two and a half years later.
Wednesday's (AEDT) trip to Werder Bremen will not be the German's first match as BVB head coach, having stood in for a game in February 2019 alongside fellow assists Michael Stefes after Favre fell ill. Dortmund squandered a three-goal lead to draw 3-3.
