Borussia Dortmund’s former goalscorer Alexander Frei has resigned as coach of FC Aarau.

Soccer fans in the region will still be familiar with Alexander Frei as an ice-cold striker who was directly involved in 57 goals in 83 games for Borussia Dortmund (37 goals, 20 assists). After his active career, which he ended in 2013 at his home club FC Basel, Frei remained loyal to soccer. Now, however, the 84-time Swiss international (42 goals, 8 assists) is taking a break.

After a stint as sports director at FC Lucerne, which he held for a year and a half, and coaching stints at AS Timau and in the youth ranks of FC Basel, the now 44-year-old was given his first contract as a professional head coach at FC Wil 1900 in 2020. He then coached FC Winterthur and the first team of FC Basel before moving to FC Aarau last summer. The second division club is in third place this season, but 17 points behind the relegation places and 19 behind first place. After “intensive internal discussions over the last few weeks”, Frei has now pulled the ripcord himself, as the club announced on Monday.

“In recent weeks and months, I realized that I no longer have the strength and energy to fully pursue my passion as a coach,” said the former striker, explaining the termination of his contract, which was originally valid until 2025.

We are losing a highly esteemed person with whom we had a great time.

Aarau CEO Sandro Burki

Sandro Burki, CEO of FC Aarau, described Frei in a press release as “a highly esteemed person with whom we had a great time” and thanked him “for his valuable and always highly professional work”.

While an interim team led by Frei’s assistant Norbert Fischer will take over the team at FC Aarau until the end of the season and a new head coach will not be appointed until the summer, Frei’s future remains open. The only thing that is clear is that the former goalscorer needs some time out first