Robin Dutt: An Indo-German success story

Have you heard of Robin Dutt the chief coach of German Bundesliga club SC Freiburg? Sounds a little Indian doesn't he? Actually Robin is half-Indian and half-German, and as the surname would suggest his father is of Indian origin, from Bengal to be precise.

Robin was born in 1965 in Cologne and was mainly brought-up in the southwest of Germany, in the Stuttgart region. As a football player he never made it big, playing amateur football in the fifth, sixth, seventh divisions; but as a coach he is working at the highest possible level - in the Bundesliga, the premier division of German football. But it was a long way to get to the top tier and the journey isn't over yet then at the age of 45 Robin Dutt is still young and could go on to coach for another two decades or even more.

Robin's coaching career started with the TSG Leonberg whom he coached until 1999, while he was winding down his playing career and they gained promotion to the next higher division in the last year. He then joined TSF Ditzingen, first as their second team coach and then coaching the first team. This brought him for the first time into the limelight locally and he then went on to join former Bundesliga side Stuttgarter Kickers as their second team coach in summer 2002. Doing good work at the club, the Kickers gave Robin a chance as their first team coach on Oktober 28, 2003 and he would guide the club well with a young team in the Regionalliga (third division) in difficult times as the club didn't have necessary funds. The highlight came in the 2006/07 season when the Kickers beat Bundesliga side Hamburger SV 4-3 in extra time in the German Cup.

The name Robin Dutt was suddenly known across Germany. And the first offers from Bundesliga clubs came in. But Robin decided to take up the job at 2.Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in summer 2007. It was the end of an era as previous coach Volker Finke had coached Freiburg for 16 years, a record in German professional football. The going initially wasn't easy for Robin, but in year two he was able to win the 2.Bundesliga title and Freiburg was back in the Bundesliga after four years. Last season they survived the relegation battle and so far they have had a good solid start to their 2010/11 season.

Robin is realistic with what he can achieve with Freiburg, he knows it is a club which develops talent and he has proven at the clubs he has worked so far that he is able to handle youngsters.

Would Robin ever coach in India? We have had this conversation and he once told me, unlikely a club but coaching Team India one day would surely be a highlight of his coaching career. But Robin is still in his early days in professional football in Germany, so India might not become a topic for him in the next decade or so.