Hans-Joachim Watzke to Step Down as BVB CEO
It isn’t always clear who is responsible for what at a football club, with supporters often just looking at the success brought about by managers and players.
Sometimes the likes of backroom staff also get a mention, especially if they have a known focus such as set-pieces. It is rarer still for the suits to have any kind of acknowledgement from fans, with owners only ever likely to get criticism.
Yet there won’t be many supporters who won’t be at least a little bit upset at the news that Hans-Joachim Watzke is due to step down as the club’s CEO.
Who is Hans-Joachim Watzke?
Born on the 21st of June 1959 in the North Rhine-Westphalia town of Marsberg, Hans-Joachim Watzke, known as ‘Aki’ to his friends, watched his first football match at Borussia Dortmund’s old stadium, the Rote Erde, when he was a child, becoming a club member in 1996.
He went to Paderborn University and earned a Master of Business Administration, founding a company called Watex that made safety clothing.
It grew to have sales of between 15 and 20 million Euros, employing around 45 people in Germany.
Links to BVB
Having long been a supporter of Borussia Dortmund, it is perhaps not all that surprising that Watzke would combine his love of football with his business mind at some point. So it was that he became the club’s Treasurer in 2001, with his appointment coming at a fortuitous time.
Just four years later, BVB were hit by a financial crisis, with Watzke turned to become the Chief Executive Officer, working alongside the Chairman, Reinhard Rauball, and Thomas Treß, the Chief Financial Officer. He worked to save the club from bankruptcy.
He worked to streamline processes for Borussia Dortmund, restructuring things and making strict cost-cutting measures, putting a clearly thought-out financial plan in place.
All players were given a 20% pay cut, then in 2006, a sponsorship deal was signed with a local insurance company for the Westfalenstadion that resulted in it becoming known as Signal Iduna Park, with the deal remaining in place until 2031. In December of 2021, Watzke’s role was considered to have been so successful that he became the First Vice-President of the German Football Association.
Stepping Down
At the start of 2024, it was confirmed that Watzke would remain in the CEO position at Borussia Dortmund for just one more year before stepping down. He was 64 years old at the time that the announcement was made, having spent more than 20 years working with the Black and Yellows in some form or another and having been a supporter for even longer.
It was seen as being confirmation that the end of an era was coming for the German side, with his move away from a role of importance starting even earlier.
Originally, Hans-Joachim Watzke wanted to withdraw completely from the operational business in the autumn. He is currently very concerned to see his club plummeting into mediocrity. Even Europa League qualification is not guaranteed.
— BVB Newsblog (@bvbnewsblog) March 23, 2025
The club made clear that Watzke would move away from his role making sporting decisions for BVB at the end of the 2023-2024 campaign, with the man himself saying, “It was always important to me that my departure would be self-determined. I have been here a long time. I am very, very grateful to the club for giving me this opportunity. I see it as a great privilege. I will do my job with full vigor and energy until the very last day. I would like to focus on strategy and transition in the final year”, showing his class until the end.
A Successful Club Career
Having spent more than two decades at Borussia Dortmund, almost becoming part of the furniture at the club, it is fair to say that Hans-Joachim Watzke is well-placed to be able to talk about the club’s successes and failures over the years.
The fact that BVB is even a going concern nowadays is something that he sees as a success, given the fact that one of his first meetings as CEO was to talk with creditors. It was under his leadership that the club took a chance on a charismatic but little-known manager by the name of Jürgen Klopp.
@homeofsports_official Ende einer Ära: Hans-Joachim Watzke verabschiedet sich von Borussia Dortmund #HansJoachimWatzke #BorussiaDortmund #BVB #FußballLegende #EndeEinerÄra #Bundesliga #FussballNews #WatzkeAbschied #Dortmund #Sportgeschichte #Fussballkultur #DankeWatzke ♬ Originalton – HomeOfSports
Under the man that many called ‘Kloppo’, Dortmund won back-to-back Bundesliga titles and made it to the final of the Champions League. More importantly, at least when he was thinking with his Chief Executive Officer hat on, was the fact that he got the club to the point that it was being run sensibly from a financial point of view.
Sadly, in the eyes of some, Watzke is leaving Dortmund at a time when things don’t look particularly impressive on the field, even if they do off it. Defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League final a season after losing the title on the last day of the season seems symptomatic of where the club finds itself.
