On Wednesday, BVB will host Chelsea FC. For coaches Edin Terzic and Graham Potter, this means a special reunion.

No, it really wasn’t foreseeable when the two men met in the mid-2010s because they were studying together for the Uefa Pro Licence in England – the licence you need to coach in Europe’s top leagues. Whether they would really need it one day was something the two men could not yet know: One was co-coach at West Ham United, the other had just led the Swedish provincial club Östersunds BK from the fourth to the second division.

And now Edin Terzic and Graham Potter are facing each other again, on one of the biggest stages world football has to offer: In the first leg of the Champions League round of 16, Borussia Dortmund with coach Terzic will host Chelsea FC, who are now coached by Potter (Wednesday, 9 pm/DAZN). A good occasion to look back on our time together: “We completed the course together over two years and have had regular exchanges since then,” Terzic says. He is an impressive personality and a fantastic coach.

Potter’s career path in particular has impressed his Dortmund colleague: “I was fascinated by the fact that he started in the 4th league in Sweden, in a place where the next big city was 20 kilometres away,” says Terzic. “But he awakened an incredible energy there.”

So much so that he led the club from the fourth division to the first division, also winning the cup for the first time in the club’s history – and reaching the knockout round in the Europa League, where it was all over against Arsenal FC, So that, after all, the coach had come to the attention of the UK. In June, Potter took over at Premier League relegated Swansea City, later at Brighton & Hove Albion and last September he succeeded the sacked Thomas Tuchel at Chelsea FC – who once coached BVB while a certain Edin Terzic was getting his coaching licence in England.

“Neither of us could have foreseen that we would be facing each other in the last 16 of the Champions League,” Terzic says with a grin. “We’re looking forward to it – and I can promise you that I’ll give everything to make sure we win the game in the end.