Borussia Dortmund Club History

Purely looking at the numbers, Borussia Dortmund is the most popular football club in Europe; the club has the highest average attendance.

And with eight national titles, three DFB Pokals, a Cup Winners’ Cup and a Champions League, not many would argue against Dortmund belonging to Germany’s football elite.

The club is often mention with the abbreviated BvB, which standing for Ballspielverein Borussia or in English “Borussia club for ball games” (the club also has a women’s handball and a men’s table-tennis teams). The full name is BV Borussia 1909 EV Dortmund.

Basic Facts

• Founded: 1909
• Country: Germany
• City: Dortmund

Home Grounds

• Stadion Rote Erde (1926-1974)
• Westfalenstadion (1974-2005)
• Signal Iduna Park (2005-)

Main Trophies

• German Championship/Bundesliga: 8
• DFB-Pokal: 4
• European Cup/Champions League: 1
• UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup: 1

Prominent Players

August Lenz, Branko Rašović, Manfred Burgsmüller, Karl-Heinz Riedle, Michael Zorc, Jan Koller, Júlio César, Jakub Błaszczykowski, Mario Götze, Robert Lewandowski, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

Club Records

Most games played: Michael Zorc (463)
Top goalscorer: Alfred Preissler (168)

History

Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e.V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund boˈʁʊsi̯aː ˈdɔʁtmʊnt, BVB, or simply Dortmund, is a German sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia (Borussia is the Latin equivalent of Prussia).

The football team is part of a large membership-based sports club with more than 145,000 members, making BVB the second largest sports club by membership in Germany.

Dortmund plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. Dortmund is one of the most successful clubs in German football history.

Borussia Dortmund was founded in 1909 by eighteen football players from Dortmund. Borussia Dortmund have won eight German championships, four DFB-Pokals, five DFL-Supercups, one UEFA Champions League, one UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, and one Intercontinental Cup. Their Cup Winners’ Cup win in 1966 made them the first German club to win a European title.

Since 1974, Dortmund have played their home games at Westfalenstadion, named after its home region of Westphalia. The stadium is the largest in Germany and Dortmund has the highest average attendance of any association football club in the world.

Borussia Dortmund’s colours are black and yellow, giving the club its nickname die Schwarzgelben. Dortmund holds a long-standing rivalry with Ruhr neighbours Schalke 04, known as the Revierderby.

In terms of Deloitte’s annual Football Money League, Dortmund is the second biggest sports club in Germany and the 11th biggest football team in the world.

The Ottmar Hitzfeld Era

Even with the club winning its second DFB-Pokal in 1989, the future wasn’t looking too bright. Their fortunes would finally change with the hiring of Ottmar Hitzfeld in 1992 with the genius strategist in charge, Dortmund soared to the top of German football.

After winning two consecutive Bundesliga titles in 1995 and 1996, Dortmund set off to conquer the rest of Europe. In 1997, they advanced to the Champions League finals, where they handily defeated the favored Juventus 3-1.

Financial Troubles

The loss of Hitzfeld to Bayern Munich after the Champions League victory was a tough pill to swallow, but their financial troubles would prove an even greater hindrance.

After Dortmund became the only German football club to enter the stock market at the turn of the millennium, their shares had started falling and the club found itself deeply in debt.

The Bundesliga title in 2002 was not enough to turn the tide, and the club had to resort to selling their best players in order to survive.

As a result of a sponsorship deal with an insurance company, Westfalenstadion would in 2005 change name to Signal Iduna Park for a limited time (until 2021).

After a couple of miserable seasons, Jürgen Klopp’s arrival in 2008 would set them back on the road to greatness. Under his leadership, Dortmund would prove to be the only true challenger to Bayern; their reignited rivalry was the main talking point of German football in the years that followed.

During Klopp’s seven years at the helm, Dortmund claimed two more Bundesliga titles (2011 and 2012) and their third DFB-Pokal (2012), but lost to Bayern in the 2013 Champions League final.

Personal Life

Marco Reus has had two relationships so far. He dated German TV presenter Caroline Bohs in 2009. They broke up in 2013, but they are still good friends. Reus then began dating German model Scarlett Gartmann in December 2015.

Reus is a big fan of current ‘Arsenal’ player Tomáš Rosický, who played for ‘Borussia Dortmund’ for six seasons, between 2001 and 2006, and was a key member of ‘Dortmund’ during his time in Germany before his move to ‘Arsenal.’

Reus once stated that he grew up watching and admiring Tomáš’s games and often replicated his style and even copied the sweatbands he wore.

Reus is a trendsetter and is known for his haircut. He is fond of both long and short haircuts and is known to spend a lot of time to get the perfect look. He owns a fashion label named ‘MRXI’ (Marco Reus, no. 11) and models for the brand, too.

Reus has also admitted his love for tattoos in numerous interviews. He has “Marco – 31.05.1989” tattooed on his left arm and has a few more tattoos on other body parts.

Reus once revealed that he would have been a pilot had he not been a professional footballer. Reus was the cover athlete of ‘FIFA 17.’