JUST HOW DOES the story of the 2024 Champions League final owe an element of its genesis to Croatia beating the Republic of Ireland 3-1 in their opening group game of Euro 2012?
Slaven Bilic had a key role to play in events that have ultimately led to Borussia Dortmund manager Edin Terzic leading his hometown club out at Wembley against Real Madrid for the showpiece game of European club football.
A little over a decade ago, though, the 41-year-old was a long way from the pinnacle. He had just started to dedicate himself to coaching after ending his semi-professional playing career and graduating from university with a sports science degree in 2010.
It was then he began working as the assistant coach with the Bundesliga side’s U19s, eventually combining duties with the first-team’s scouting network.
Bilic was in charge of Croatia for the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine and, in the course of his preparation with his own coaching staff and scouting department, had settled on a game plan for Giovanni Trapattoni’s side.
Ireland were unbeaten in 14 games and conceded only eight goals in 12 games prior to the meeting in Poznan.
It was around this time that Bilic began to hear whispers from his contacts in Germany about Terzic, partly because he was of Croatian descent.
Terzic was born and raised in Menden, 30 minutes east of the city, but his father was Bosnian and his mother Croatian.
They spoke Yugoslavian at home and he was firmly embedded in German football.
Terzic’s responsibilities began to broaden at Dortmund at a time when Jurgen Klopp led them to back-to-back league titles and a Champions League final – ironically in Wembley in 2013.
But on a scouting trip to Croatia a year previously Terzic’s first solid connection with Bilic was made through a third party.
“I was beginning to test him,” Bilic tells The 42. “I was aware of a young Croatian who was back then with Dortmund U19s and who also scouted for the first team.”
Terzic also showed some initiative and produced additional pointers in a scouting plan for Ireland that tallied with the work of Bilic and his staff.
A year later, when he was named boss of Besiktas, Bilic earmarked Terzic for a role on his first-team staff in Turkey.
“I wanted a coach who was also an analyst, so I approached Dortmund’s sporting director, Michael Zorc,” Bilic says. “He agreed to loan him for a couple of years as they had big plans for him. It turned out to be a five-year loan with me.
“Edin has described himself as incredibly grateful for the experiences he had while working as my assistant, but so am I,” Bilic insists. “Not only is he is a brilliant guy and a brilliant coach – he’s like my younger brother.”
The pair’s working relationship continued for two years at West Ham United in the Premier League. The little brother was growing up and the bond strengthened further with their families holidaying together.
When Bilic and Terzic were sacked by West Ham in 2017, the latter used it as a chance to complete his UEFA Pro Licence, earning the qualification through the English FA the following year alongside Graham Potter, Nemanja Vidic, Nicky Butt and former Ireland midfielder Steven Reid.
Terzic returned to Dortmund in ’18 to work as assistant coach to Lucien Favre. He then took interim charge during the 2020/21 season, winning the German Cup before eventually getting the job on a full-time basis after another boss, Marco Rose, left by mutual consent.
The 2022/23 season was his first full campaign in charge of Dortmund. It was also talisman Jude Bellingham’s last before joining Madrid.
It ended in heartbreak for both with Dortmund losing the title to Bayern on goal difference following a 2-2 draw at home to Mainz 05 on the final day.
Terzic stood in front of the Yellow Wall and the rest of the Westfalenstadion, broken and in tears.
Their domestic form was poor last season, dropping to fifth in the table, but their exploits in the Champions League have captured the imagination since overturning a 2-1 deficit against Atletico Madrid from the first leg of their quarter final.
A thumping 4-2 win on their own patch secured progress to the semi-final, when a pair of 1-0 victories over PSG set up Terzic’s head-to-head with Carlo Ancelotti and 14-times winners Real Madrid in the final.
While Bilic endearingly refers to him as his “little brother”, the Dortmund boss recently hit back at one TV reporter who referred to him as “a fan coach” because of his connections to the club.
“I’m often asked about the fact that I was a fan of this club. It doesn’t bother me. It just annoys me when I’m reduced to that,” he said on DAZN.
“It wasn’t like I was sitting in the stands and someone said: ‘We’ll take him.’ I wasn’t just a fan; I was an employee of the club. The path didn’t lead as a fan but as a youth coach, as a scout, as an assistant coach, onto the coaching bench and into professional football.”
Terzic has now arrived on the biggest stage of all in the European game.
