Borussia Dortmund confirm fine for Karim Adeyemi following sideline outburst, Niko Kovac speaks on need to maintain discipline | OneFootball

Karim Adeyemi’s unprofessional behavior in Friday night’s Bundesliga match against Borussia Mönchengladbach will not go unpunished. Adeyemi reacted angrily when subbed off by Borussia Dortmund head coach Niko Kovac in the 60th-minute of the tense 2-0 home victory. Angry at being taken off, Adeyemi attempted to head into the locker room, but was stopped by BVB sporting director Sebastian Kehl and sent back to the bench. 

“I told him: He’s not going to the locker room, he’s sitting there,“ Kehl explained to Sky Germany after the game. ”The substitution was totally justified. Karim didn’t play well. He will be punished for it. I don’t want to see that reaction and neither does the coach or anyone else. It’s not right, and Karim knows that too.

“We’ve discussed this issue intensively with the team in recent weeks,” Kehl continued. “If a player is unhappy, he can express it in the locker room or in the next day’s training session.“

“One has to be reasonable,” Kovac added when speaking to Sat1. “I could have made the substitution at halftime, but I didn’t want to. I wanted to give him another chance.”

Why are Dortmund cracking down on Adeyemi?

It may seem that the club is being rather harsh on the 23-year-old, but Adeyemi was already warned for throwing a water bottle during another narrow and stressful 1-0 home win over 1. FC Köln on matchday eight in October. There was also the matter of Adeyemi’s previously concealed conviction on illegal weapons charges, for which there were ultimately no consequences from the club

Dortmund are already under pressure to keep their players in line after defender Nico Schlotterbeck’s outburst on the sidelines last week following a disappointing Champions League draw. Kovac must be seen to have support of the BVB management, particularly after the failure of more “player friendly” predecessors such as Nuri Sahin and Edin Terzic.

Will there be talk about Kovac’s job over the winter break?

Of course. That’s always the case with Dortmund irrespective of who’s coaching the team. Two years ago, reports of an “inner mutiny” against Terzic persisted until Bundesliga play finally resumed in January 2024. Sahin somehow escaped the sack during the last winter break before a run of four straight losses to begin 2025 ultimately cost him his job. 

One can fully expect more Dortmund “crisis summits” over the holidays. The Bundesliga club routinely criticized for having too many bosses and too many front office administrators with similar job titles did trim the fat a bit last year by getting rid of Sven Mislintat, but Acki Watzke will likely be calling in his two sporting directors Kehl and Lars Ricken to discuss Kovac in the next few weeks. 

Kovac did help his case with a confident tone at the post-match press conference.

What were Kovac’s final words at the press conference?

“The reason for the substitution was, very clearly, his performance,” Kovac noted with a confident grin. “I do believe we were all there in the stadium and, I’ll very clearly state, he wasn’t good. I told him that at the half and brought Maxi [Beier] on in the 60th minute. He did a better job. Sebastian [Kehl] can fill you in on the rest.”

When a reporter asked a follow up question about Kovac’s reputation as a “disciplinary freak“, Kovac gestured toward his counterpart sitting opposite him at the press conference. Kovac then once again referenced Kehl’s comments.

“I think that [Gladbach head coach] Eugen [Polanski] also cares about discipline,” Kovac answered. “I think that every head coach in the Bundesliga demands discipline. I’m not demanding anything less than what my parents demanded from me as soon I was old enough to go to Kindergarten.

“I’m just asking for the essentials,” Kovac concluded. “[What he did] wasn’t right. Sebastian [Kehl] can fill you in on the rest.“

GGFN | Peter Weis