Robin Dutt (German pronunciation:[ʀoːbiːndʊt]; born 24 January 1965) is a Germanfootball coach, executive and former player. He has managed many German clubs and secured promotion for SC Freiburg, returning them to the Bundesliga.
Early life
Dutt was born in Köln-Lindenthal, Germany. He is the son of a German mother and an Indian Bengali father named Sabyasachi Dutt from Kolkata. His father moved to Germany in the late 1950s.[1]
Playing career
Dutt played amateur football in the fifth, sixth, and seventh divisions in Germany.[2]
Coaching and executive career
Early career
Dutt started coaching TSG Leonberg towards the end of his career as a player, and was their coach until 1999. The club gained promotion to the next division in his final year as manager. He then joined TSF Ditzingen in the 1999/2000 season, as their second team coach and was then promoted to the first team coach.
Stuttgarter Kickers
Dutt's success started to grant him local notoriety. In the summer of 2002, he joined former Bundesliga side Stuttgarter Kickers as their second team coach. The Kickers promoted Dutt as their first team coach on 28 October 2003. He went on to guide the club with a young team in the Regionalliga (third division) through difficult times as the club struggled financially. The highlight came in the 2006–07 season when the Kickers beat Bundesliga side Hamburger SV 4–3 in extra time in the DFB-Pokal.
SC Freiburg
Dutt was offered a job at the 2. Bundesliga club SC Freiburg and became coach in the summer of 2007. The previous coach, Volker Finke, had coached Freiburg for 16 years, a record in German professional football. Following an initially challenging first year, in his second year he was able to win the 2. Bundesliga title and Freiburg was back in the Bundesliga after four years.[3]
The first season in Bundesliga with SC Freiburg saw Dutt evade relegation. They finished four points ahead of the relegation playoff spot. The 2010–11 season proved to be Dutt's last season at SC Freiburg, the club managed to hold onto the ninth position in the league table.[4]
Bayer Leverkusen
Dutt was hired to coach Bayer 04 Leverkusen in March 2011 after previous coach, Jupp Heynckes, joined Bayern Munich. "I didn’t come to Leverkusen to turn a second-placed team into a fourth- or fifth-placed team. We came second (last season) and I want to improve on that,"[4][5] said Dutt when he took the reins on 19 June 2011. Dutt was dismissed from his post on 1 April 2012,[6] after a poor run that included a 7–1 away defeat at Barcelona in the round of 16 2011–12 UEFA Champions League, in which Lionel Messi became the first player to score 5 goals in a Champions League match. Dutt was also held responsible for a streak of four consecutive Bundesliga defeats which left Leverkusen in sixth position in the Bundesliga.[7]
Dutt became the new head coach of Werder Bremen on 27 May 2013.[10] Werder Bremen dismissed Dutt on 25 October 2014.[11]
Board representative for sport of VfB Stuttgart
On 6 January 2015, Dutt became the board representative for sport of VfB Stuttgart.
In May 2016, he was fired following the team's relegation from the Bundesliga for the first time in 40 years.[12]
VfL Bochum
On 11 February 2018 Dutt was appointed as manager of VfL Bochum.[13] He was dismissed on 26 August 2019.[14]
Wolfsberger AC
In April 2021 Wolfsberger AC announced, that Robin Dutt was going to be their coach from August 2021.[15]