Crystal Palace are ramping up their search for Oliver Glasner's successor following their UEFA Conference League triumph.
Glasner bid farewell to the Eagles after two-and-a-half years in charge by leading the club to its first European trophy by defeating Rayo Vallecano in the UEFA Conference League final in Leipzig.
A number of coaches have been linked to the vacancy since Glasner announced in January that he will be departing Palace this summer including Andoni Iraola and Frank Lampard, but a new frontrunner has emerged for the Selhurst Park hotseat.
Dino Toppmöller is reportedly in talks with the Palace hierarchy and the German could follow the same path as Glasner given his former allegiance to Eintracht Frankfurt.
Background & achievements
The son of former Bayer Leverkusen coach Klaus Toppmöller, who led Die Wierkself to the UEFA Champions League final in 2002, Toppmöller had a nomadic playing career which saw him venture to Manchester City in 2001, albeit without making an appearance for the Citizens.
The attacking midfielder subsequently went to Eintracht Frankfurt, the club he would eventually manage, before spells in the lower tiers of German football with Erzgebirge Aue, Jahn Regensburg and Kickers Offenbach.
Toppmöller became player-coach at SV Mehring and RM Hamm Benfica in the closing chapters of his playing career before he was named manager of F91 Dudelange in Luxembourg in June 2016.
In his three years with Dudelange he led the club to three league titles and achieved qualification to the main draw of the UEFA Europa League, the first time any Luxembourg side had reached that stage of a European competition, before moving to Belgian outfit Virton for a brief period in 2019.
He was then headhunted by Julian Nagelsmann to become his assistant coach at RB Leipzig and Toppmöller followed the former Hoffenheim coach to Bayern Munich in June 2021. Nagelsmann's sacking from the Bavarian giants also resulted in Toppmöller's exit from the Allianz Arena, but prised the door open for his first managerial role with Eintracht Frankfurt in June 2023.
The Wadern native guided the Eagles to a sixth-placed finish in his first season with the club, but Toppmöller elevated an exuberant Frankfurt squad to new heights in the 2024/25 season as they equalled their best-ever finish in a Bundesliga campaign with third spot, which secured their passage to the UEFA Champions League. This was a campaign where Toppmöller suffered the loss of his top scorer Omar Marmoush to Manchester City in the January transfer window, but Frankfurt's form was unaffected as Toppmöller thrusted future Liverpool striker Hugo Ekitike front and centre.
Toppmöller was ultimately the victim of his own success at the Deutsche Bank Park and the 45-year-old paid the price for his side's defensive frailties, with Frankfurt conceding a joint-highest 39 goals in 18 matches at the time of Toppmöller's dismissal.
Honours
F91 Dudelange
- Luxembourg National Division: 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19
- Luxembourg Cup: 2016–17, 2018–19
Tactics & style
Toppmöller was highly regarded in Germany for his tactical acumen.
Upon his appointment, Toppmöller said he wanted his Frankfurt team to be "positive troublemakers" - a tactical philosophy his side embraced during his two-and-a-half years in charge of the Rhine-Main club.
It was a phrase he coined again ahead of a UEFA Champions League meeting against Liverpool, stating: "Positive troublemakers means that we play with passion, we try to play forward, we want to score goals, we are like an offensive-minded team.
"We have our DNA and we want to play forward, we want to create chances, we want to show that we dare to play and that is, I think, also what fits very well with the players."
Toppmöller marries a structured defensive unit with intense pressing, rapid transitions and an emphasis on getting the ball forward as quickly as possible, whether that's through vertical passes or fluid combinations between thirds.
Primarily deploying a 4-2-3-1 formation, Toppmöller's Frankfurt were positionally fluid and the 45-year-old wasn't afraid to alter his side's setup depending on the opposition, sometimes shifting to a 3-4-2-1 - the same shape Glasner's enjoyed great success with at Palace.
There are similarities between the blueprint Glasner implemented at Palace and the traits of Toppmöller's Frankfurt, which makes this appointment extremely eye-catching.
What's been said
"It was only a matter of time till Dino worked as a head coach in the Bundesliga. It was no surprise that Julian Nagelsmann took him with him to Bayern.
The way he plays football fits with our philosophy. And as a former Eintracht player, who speaks fluent English and French, Dino will have no problems quickly finding his feet in Frankfurt.
Frankfurt sporting director Markus Krösche after appointing Toppmöller (Bundesliga.com)
"I took over a team with a good physical state, educated, and with a strong attitude. That speaks for Dino, the ex coach."
Frankfurt's former interim coach Albert Riera after succeeding Toppmöller
