Daniel Thioune, the head coach of Fortuna Düsseldorf, still struggles with the missed promotion to the Bundesliga in the previous season.
“I’ve never watched the game again” he told the “Kicker.” This would have “opened up the scar again, and I didn’t want that.” He can’t change the result, but he can learn from it. “Of course, the question remains, what the players, what I could have done better, whether I always made the right decisions with my starting lineup or in my substitutions, but everyone came from a complete conviction.”
The 27th of May “destroyed a lot for us” said Thioune. “But we could also take a lot away from it, for example, this resilience.” We “sorted ourselves out very well and took a bit with us” afterwards.
As for his own future, the football coach doesn’t see an exit, despite the exit clause at Fortuna. “I once said it’s the greatest if you play at 15:30, but I won’t do that for any price” he said. “It’s cool here in Düsseldorf, I have a thing for it.” He finds it charming to “develop with Fortuna, to grow healthily, and to work sustainably.”
Düsseldorf had won the first leg of the promotion playoff in May 2024 with 3:0 in Bochum, but then collapsed in the return leg and ultimately missed the promotion in a penalty shootout.