HISTORY

Dortmund were founded 116 years ago in 1909 and hold a long-standing rivalry with Schalke 04 and Bayern Munich. 

Behind Bayern, Dortmund are the second most successful team in German football, with eight league championships, five DFB-Pokals, and six DFL-Supercups, as well as the 1997 UEFA Champions League, 1966 European Cup Winners’ Cup and 1997 Intercontinental Cup.

They have not fallen out of the topflight since 1976.

STADIUM

Dortmund have played at Westfalenstadion, known as Signal Iduna Park, since 1974. It’s the largest stadium in Germany with a capacity of 81,365 and features the famous Yellow Wall standing terrace.

The stadium hosted matches in the 1974 and 2006 FIFA World Cups and UEFA Euro 2024, as well as the 2001 UEFA Cup final.

THE MANAGER

Niko Kovac has been at the helm since January 2025 when Dortmund were 11th in the Bundesliga.

The former defensive midfielder played for a number of German clubs throughout his career, mostly at Hertha BSC where he made 138 league appearances between 1992 and 1996, before returning for another three year spell and 75 appearances from 2003 to 2006.

He was a Croatian international, scoring 14 goals and earning 83 caps for his country, before going on to manage the nation from 2013 to 2015.

His first job as a club manager was at Eintracht Franfkurt in 2016, where he won the 2017/18 DFB-Pokal, which earned him a move to Bayern Munich. He helped the German giants to the 2018/19 Bundesliga title, DFB-Pokal trophy and 2018 DFL-Supercup, before switching to Monaco, Vfl Wolfsburg, and then Dortmund.

THE SQUAD

Goalkeeper Gregor Kobel kept the most clean sheets in the league last season and helped Switzerland to the World Cup quarter-finals in the summer.

There was not much to celebrate for German internationals Waldemar Anton, Nico Schlotterbeck, Felix Nmecha or Maximilian Beier, as they were eliminated by Paraguay in the round of 32.

Algeria’s Ramy Bensebaini and Turkey’s Salih Ozcan failed to make it past the round of 32 and group stage respectively, as did Marcel Sabitzer and Carnery Chukwuemeka with Austria. 

Sweden also could only get as far as the round of 32 with Dortmund’s Daniel Svensson in their squad, while Julian Ryerson got to the quarter-finals with Norway.

LAST SEASON

Kovac’s side finished second in the Bundesliga in 2025/26, 16 points behind champions Bayern Munich. After beginning the campaign in eighth following an opening day 3-3 draw away to FC St. Pauli, they would then not fall out of the top four for the remainder of the season.

Serhou Guirassy was the club’s top scorer with 22 goals in all competitions, helping Dortmund to the DFB-Pokal round of 16, when they were beaten 1-0 at home to Bayer Leverkusen.

It was a disappointing UEFA Champions League outing though. Dortmund finished 17th in the league phase following three wins, two draws and three defeats, before surrendering a two-goal lead to lose 4-3 on aggregate to Atalanta in the knockout phase play-offs.

PRE-SEASON SO FAR

Dortmund began pre-season with a 3-1 win away to RW Oberhausen, followed by a 2-1 defeat away to Fortuna Dusseldorf, before losing 1-0 away to Cerezo Osaka.

They got their second win under their belts with a 1-0 victory against FC Tokyo. Among the goals so far have been Justin Lerma (on his debut), Serhou Guirassy, Takato Yamamoto (on his debut), Mathis Albert and Fabio Silva.

SUMMER BUSINESS

In the transfer window, Dortmund have recruited French defender Joane Gadou from Red Bull Salzburg, Ecuadorian midfielder Justin Lerma from Independiente, Brazilian defender Kaua Prates from Cruzeiro, and Greek midfielder Konstantinos Karetsas from Genk.

Four players have also returned from loan spells, namely Julien Duranville, Cole Campbell, Kjell Watjen and Diant Ramaj.

Duranville, Campbell and Watjen all went back in the other direction on permanent moves away, alongside the departures of Salih Ozcan, Julian Brandt and Niklas Sule, as well as Karim Adeyemi who went to Barcelona.

PREVIOUS MEETINGS

Since 2002, we’ve played eight games against Dortmund, winning four, drawing one and losing three. They’ve never been won by more than a two-goal margin for either side.

In 2002/03’s Champions League campaign we won 2-0 and lost 2-1, and wouldn’t meet again until 2011/12, when we drew 1-1 and won 2-1.

2013/14 saw us lose 2-1 and win 1-0. In the following season, we lost 2-0 and won 2-0 against Dortmund.

The 2-0 win was the last time we met in November 2014, as goals from Yaya Sonogo and Alexis Sanchez wrapped up the victory over Jurgen Klopp’s side at Emirates Stadium against future Gunners Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.