FORMER ROMA COACH Paulo Fonseca will return to Italy as the new boss of AC Milan, the Serie A runners-up announced on Thursday.
Meanwhile, in Germany, Borussia Dortmund coach Edin Terzic said he was leaving the Bundesliga club.
“Milan’s new coach will be Paulo Fonseca,” said former Milan forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic, representing the owner, at a press conference.
Fonseca, 51, who signed a three-year contract, has been with French club Lille since 2022.
He succeeds Stefano Pioli, who was sacked at the end of the 2023-24 season after five seasons in charge.
“We studied very carefully what he did, how he prepared his matches,” said Ibrahimovic, who had two spells as a player with the club, ending his on-field career with Milan in 2023.
“We want him to bring his identity of the game, his offensive style to our team, to our players.
“After five years we wanted something new, with all respect to Stefano Pioli.”
Born in Nampula, Mozambique, in 1973, Fonseca began his coaching career in Portugal with stints at Pacos de Ferreira, Porto and Braga before spending three years at Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk, where he won seven trophies and finished with a record of 103 wins in 139 matches.
In 2019, he took over at Roma, whom he led to fifth and seventh in Serie A, before heading to Lille, taking them to fifth and fourth in Ligue 1 and guiding them into Europe in both seasons he had in France.
Milan are coming off a trophy-less season — their 19th league title came in 2022 — where they were second best by some distance to city rivals Inter who won the title.
They were eliminated from the Champions League at the group stage, finishing third behind Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain and lost to AS Roma in the quarter-finals of the Europa League
The announcement marks Fonseca the second big managerial change in Italy in two days.
On Wednesday, Juventus named Thiago Motta as their successor to Massimiliano Allegri who was sacked last month.
Terzic’s departure comes less than two weeks after Dortmund lost to Real Madrid in the Champions League final.
“Dear Borussia supporters, even if it really makes me sad, I want to tell you today that I have decided to leave,” Terzic said in a club statement.
Terzic said he asked the club leadership for a meeting after Dortmund’s Champions League final loss at Wembley to hand in his resignation.
“After 10 years at BVB, including five years on the coaching team and two and a half years as head coach, I feel that the upcoming new start should be accompanied by a new man on the sidelines.”
Dortmund accepted Terzic’s resignation, with club leadership meeting on Thursday to discuss future plans.
CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke thanked the coach for his “outstanding work”, saying: “We all owe him a debt of gratitude.”
“Edin and I will always be friends.”
Dortmund sporting director Sebastian Kehl said the club’s “successes of the past few years will be linked to (Terzic)”, saying the coach “will follow his own path.”
German media reported on Thursday that former Dortmund player and current assistant coach Nuri Sahin will take over as manager ahead of the coming season.
Sahin, who was brought in as one of two assistant coaches to Terzic in January having previously managed Antalyaspor in the Turkish Super Lig, came through Dortmund’s junior system and played 274 times for the club.
The 35-year-old Sahin won one Bundesliga title and a German Cup at Dortmund, having also played for Real Madrid and Liverpool.
- Shock exit -
Terzic’s exit comes as a shock as he was widely expected to lead the club again next year after a run to the Champions League final.
He had previously served as an assistant for West Ham and Beskitas but his next step is unclear.
Born on the outskirts of Dortmund, the childhood BVB fan had joined the club as a junior coach and then a scout after a playing career in the lower divisions.
As interim manager, Terzic took Dortmund to a German Cup win in 2021 just a few months after taking over.
In 2022-23, his first full season, he had Dortmund on course for the Bundesliga title until a last-day 2-2 draw with Mainz saw Bayern win for the 11th straight season.
At the end of his second campaign, Terzic had Dortmund in the Champions League final — something that only Jurgen Klopp and Ottmar Hitzfeld had done before.
Dortmund ultimately lost to Real Madrid 2-0 at Wembley after outclassing the Spanish giants for much of the match.
Despite their excellent run in Europe, Terzic and Dortmund were criticised for a poor domestic season.
Dortmund’s Champions League success was in stark contrast to their performances in the Bundesliga, where they finished fifth — 27 points behind Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen.
Dortmund were eliminated at the last 16 by Stuttgart in the German Cup.
