Borussia Dortmund have secured the services of Dr. Philipp Laux. The former Bundesliga goalkeeper joins his former club in the capacity of a sports psychologist.

The 47 year old will be supporting the first team players, the coaching team and the staff of the Bundesliga runners-up in his new role.

“Our aim is to position BVB in the best-possible way in all relevant subdivisions of professional sport and to form a network of specialists who work together in pursuit of a holistic approach. In view of this, we wanted to integrate the topic of sports psychology into the professional domain for the 2020/2021 season, in order to be able to work in a targeted manner on the potential development of each individual,” said Sebastian Kehl, Heads of Licensed Player Division at Borussia Dortmund, in a release on the BVB website.

“In the wake of the corona crisis, which has suddenly confronted us with completely new challenges, we are now bringing this measure forward. In Dr. Philipp Laux, we’ve succeeded in recruiting a psychologist who, on top of his professional training, has many years of experience as a professional footballer. He will support us in areas such as personality management, mental coaching and interdisciplinary cooperation with other experts,” Hehl added.

Laux has represented SSV Ulm 1846, Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Braunschweig as a player, before retiring in 2003 due to a cartilage damage in his knee. He then worked as a goalkeeping coach for the German FA (DFB) and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, before commencing a degree in psychology at the University of Mannheim. Between 2008 and 2018, he was a club psychologist at FC Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig and VfB Stuttgart.

Laux has a doctorate in psychology and has been self-employed since 2018.