Borussia Dortmund

Lore & Background

Founded in 1909 by eighteen football players from Dortmund, the club is nicknamed Die Schwarzgelben (The Black and Yellow). They hold a long-standing rivalry with Ruhr neighbours Schalke 04, against whom they contest the Revierderby, and also contest Der Klassiker with FC Bayern Munich. Dortmund is the largest sports club by membership in Germany after FC Bayern Munich, with about 218,000 members, making it the fifth largest sports club by membership in the world.

The club also has a women's handball team. Since 1974, Dortmund have played their home games at the Westfalenstadion, the largest stadium in Germany; the Yellow Wall, a standing terrace in the South Stand, is the largest of its kind in Europe, and Dortmund has the highest average attendance of any association football club in the world. Dortmund is the second most decorated German football team; domestically, they have eight league championships, five DFB-Pokals, and six DFL-Supercups.

Internationally, they won the UEFA Champions League in 1997, the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1966, and the Intercontinental Cup in 1997, in addition to being runners-up in the Champions League in 2013 and 2024 and UEFA Europa League in 1993 and 2002. Under the directorship of Michael Zorc in the 2010s, Dortmund cultivated a reputation for spotting and developing young talent, and have remained focused on developing a youth system. As of 2024, Dortmund had the second most revenue across football clubs in Germany, and the 12th most revenue across all football teams in the world, per Deloitte's Football Money League.

Reader's Guide

The club was founded on 19 December 1909. The name Borussia is Latin for Prussia but was taken from Borussia beer from the nearby Borussia brewery in Dortmund. The team began playing in blue and white striped shirts with a red sash, and black shorts. In 1913, they donned the black and yellow stripes for the first time.

Over the next decades the club had only modest success playing in local leagues. They came close to bankruptcy in 1929. The 1930s saw the rise of the Third Reich; Borussia's president was replaced when he refused to join the Nazi Party, and a couple of members who surreptitiously used the club's offices to produce anti-Nazi pamphlets were executed in the last days of the war. The club had greater success in the newly established Gauliga Westfalen.

After World War II, Borussia was dissolved by the Allied occupation authorities. There was a short-lived attempt to merge the club with two others as Sportgemeinschaft Borussia von 1898, but it was as Ballspiel-Verein Borussia (BVB) that they made their first appearance in the national league final in 1949. Between 1946 and 1963, Borussia featured in the Oberliga West. In 1949, Borussia reached the final in Stuttgart against VfR Mannheim, which they lost 2–3 after extra time.

The club claimed its first national title in 1956 with a 4–2 win against Karlsruher SC. One year later, Borussia defeated Hamburger SV 4–1 to win their second national title. In 1963, Borussia won the last edition of the German Football Championship to secure their third national title. In 1962, the DFB met in Dortmund and voted to establish the Bundesliga, beginning in August 1963.

Dortmund earned its place among the first sixteen clubs by winning the last pre-Bundesliga national championship. Dortmund's Friedhelm Konietzka scored the first-ever Bundesliga goal a minute into the match, which they would eventually lose 2–3 to Werder Bremen. In 1965, Dortmund won its first DFB-Pokal. In 1966, Dortmund won the European Cup Winners' Cup 2–1 against Liverpool in extra time.

The 1970s were characterised by financial problems, relegation from the Bundesliga in 1972, and the opening of the Westfalenstadion in 1974. The club returned to the Bundesliga in 1976. Dortmund continued to have financial problems through the 1980s. BVB avoided being relegated in 1986 by winning a third decisive playoff game against Fortuna Köln.