Dortmund coach's head on the chopping block

December 17, 2006

BERLIN, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Borussia Dortmund executives will hold a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the team's performances after their 2-1 home loss to Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday, managing director Hans-Joachim Watzke said.

Dortmund coach Bert van Marwijk has come under pressure since announcing he would be leaving the club at the end of the season. German media have speculated he would be sacked at the winter break. Dortmund have won only two of nine home matches.

'We'll have a meeting to analyse the current situation on Tuesday and draw our conclusions from that,' Watzke told Arena television.

But van Marwijk told the same network he did not know of any meeting.

'I don't know anything about that,' he said. 'I just talked with him (Watzke) and he didn't say anything about that to me. We'll be training on Tuesday.'

Dortmund fell to ninth place after Sunday's defeat and have 22 points from 17 matches. Dortmund were jeered off the pitch by their fans.