Menden, the multicultural town where Terzic grew up | OneFootball

Edin Terzic, Athletic’s new head coach, grew up in Menden, a multicultural town on Dortmund’s outskirts better known for its hockey passion. The son of Yugoslav migrants, he captained his childhood team.

El Correo reports that 134 kilometres separate Monchengladbach and Menden, birthplaces of Jupp Heynckes and Terzic. Since Heynckes left in 2003, Athletic have had Spanish and Argentine coaches, and Terzic, whose first language is not Spanish, is set to take the San Mamés dugout.

He was raised in a community marked by post-war echoes and a workmanlike outlook, where football began to matter. Menden sits about 30 kilometres from Dortmund.

Born in October 1982, soon after his parents left a fracturing Yugoslavia, his father Ibrasim, a Bosnian from Donji Vakuf, died in 2022. His mother Ruzica is a Croat from Osijek, and his brother Alen, born in 1980, scouts for Borussia Dortmund.

Home to 52,255 people across 86 square kilometres, Menden blends Turks, Greeks and Italians. One street is dubbed Little Italy, lined with trattorias and kebab shops, plus a spot for Spanish tapas and Mexican tacos.

The town has faced its history, from 16th and 17th century witch hunts that claimed 103 victims, recalled by the Dorothea Hilleke Library near the Market Square. Most residents are Catholic, about a quarter Protestant, with others of other beliefs and none. Industry moved from silk mills and thimble works to steel, then automotive and electrical firms. Many commute to Dortmund, where the Terzic family later settled.

Source: El Correo