Hitzfeld Predicts Good Year For Dortmund

HItzfeld, who currently manages the Swiss national team, is most famous for his time at Bayern, but unforgotten is the time that he managed to do the unthinkable by winning the 1997 Champions League with the Yellow-and-Blacks at the expense of a Juventus side that included Zinedine Zidane.

In a recent interview with bundesliga.de, Hitzfeld had this to say when asked about the direction in which he feels his former club are headed; "Under Jürgen Klopp Borussia have created real euphoria in the Ruhr Valley. I'm convinced that Dortmund will qualify for Europe this season."

The 60-year-old also commented on the transition from club coach to national team manager, which has not been at all seamless considering that Switzerland are currently looking like long shots to qualify for World Cup 2010.

"The work is completely different, it's like an adventure," he said. "At a club you have six weeks of pre-season and ten test games. You can try things and adjust the team.

"As a national team coach you only get to see the players four or five days ahead of the game, but you still need to do the same work. You don't have the time to prepare, and you have to adapt to that. And you can't correct defeats as soon as you'd wish to. You have to wait a long time.

"In the Bundesliga you have the chance to do so one week later, so that adds to the pressure. Nevertheless the job is a lot of fun. You watch players home and abroad, you travel - it's a job that rather is a hobby," Hitzfeld concluded.

Derek Wanner, Goal.com