Name and seat of the Club

The complete name of the Club is - Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e.V. Dortmund.

Mostly one speaks however of the BVB, Borussia Dortmund or BVB 09.

The Club is located in the North Rhine-Westphalian city of Dortmund.

The founding year

The cradle of Borussia is the Catholic Trinity community in Dortmund's Nordstadt. The community founded a youth organization in 1901. The members of this organization were young miners and steel workers who not only took part in church life, but also had joint sports activities as their goal. These were initially gymnastics and athletics, which was not uncommon at that time. From 1906, football was also played on the fields and meadows around the Borsigplatz. However, the chaplain Hubert Dewald vigorously turned against the raw and wild hustle and bustle on the football pitch and thus against football itself. In order to stop football, the chaplain always prayed at the time when the young people had actually arranged to play football. He also asked the young people to stop their common meetings in the inn "Zum Wildschütz" and to move them to the community centre.

The conflict between the chaplain and the young kickers led to the founding of the Borussia Dortmund ball club on 19 December 1909 in the "Zum Wildschütz" inn. The chaplain wanted to prevent this, but was not allowed into the inn. The chaplain did not give up yet and excluded the founding members of the BVB on the next devotion from the youth organization of the municipality. The BVB 09 remained however in spite of everything.

Club logo

Club colours

At the time of the foundation, the official playing clothes consisted of a blue and white striped shirt with a red sash and black trousers. Due to the merger of the three large clubs Dortmunds Rhenania, Britannia and deutsche Flagge with the BVB, the club colours changed to lemon yellow (shirt or jersey) and black (trousers).

Official Website

The official website of the BVB 09 is:

Bvb.de

Current and former stadiums

In the first months of its existence Borussia played its games on a field northeast of the Borsigplatz before it got its first real venue for its games around 1910 with the "White Meadow". The sports field "Weiße Wiese" was also located in the immediate vicinity of the Borsigplatz and the industrial facilities of the Hoesch iron and steel works. A memorial stone in the Stockheide outdoor pool still commemorates this former venue today. In 1924, the sports field was converted into a small stadium with a capacity of 10,000 spectators so that Borussia could advance to the district class. Until 1937 Borussia played its home games there and then had to give way because of the National Socialists.

In 1937 Borussia moved to the "Kampfbahn rote Erde". The stadium had a capacity of 30,000 spectators. Until 1939 several final round matches of the German championship took place here, in which the archrival FC Schalke 04 from Gelsenkirchen was also involved several times. The capacity of the stadium could be increased to 42,000 spectators by an expansion of the stadium in the meantime. Borussia played their home games in the "Kampfbahn rote Erde" until the 1974 World Cup and celebrated the first big successes in the history of the club there.

A new stadium in Dortmund became necessary for the 1974 World Cup, which was built directly behind the main stand of the "Kampfbahn rote Erde". The Westfalenstadion had a capacity of 54,000 seats and was completely covered. This stadium quickly developed into one of the most important stadiums in Germany. Due to its typical English construction without a running track, the atmosphere in the Westfalenstadion was more intense and heated than in other stadiums in Germany. It is thus regarded as the forerunner of the pure football stadiums which were built almost everywhere in Germany in the nineties.

The Westfalen Stadium was expanded step by step in the nineties and currently has a capacity of almost 82,000 spectators and, with the south stand, the largest standing tribune with 25,000 standing places. The gradual expansion of the stadium brought the club to the brink of ruin. Part of the consolidation plan was the marketing of the stadium name. Since then, the name of the stadium is Signal Iduna Park.

Nickname

The probably most used nickname for the association is BVB. However, it is often spoken also by the Borussen although this is not a unique selling point because of the Borussia from Mönchengladbach. The term "the black yellow" or "the chat yellow" is often used. Because of the club colors black and yellow often also the ironic name "bee Mayas" falls. Borussia got a special nickname from its archrival Schalke 04. Since one does not want to pronounce the hated name Dortmund in Gelsenkirchen, there is only mockingly spoken of Lüdenscheid Nord.

Club members

With 156,000 members (as of November 2018), BVB is one of the sports clubs with the largest number of members in Germany.

Successes

The BVB 09 has developed into one of the most successful German clubs in recent decades.

National successes

German championships

Borussia Dortmund, with 8 German championship titles, is ranked third on the eternal championship list behind FC Bayern Munich and 1 FC Nürnberg, if you don't count the GDR champions.

These championship titles were won in the following years:

1956

1957

1963

1995

1996

2002

2011

2012

DFB Cups

The Borussians could win the national DFB cup four times. These successes took place in the following years:

1965

1989

2012

2017

Supercups

The Supercup is a cup competition played out between the reigning German champion and the cup winner at the beginning of the season. The BVB has already won this cup five times in the following years

1989, 1995, 1996, 2013, 2014

The Borussians were also able to win important international titles in their history, which I would also like to enumerate in turn.

International successes

European Cup of Champions / Champions League

BVB won the the Champions League, once in 1997.

European Cup of Cup Winners

The Dortmund team won this title once in 1965/66 and was thus the first German team to ever win an international title.

World cup of clubs

1997

Failures

The only sporting failure was the relegation from the 1971/1972 Bundesliga. The seventies and eighties were generally difficult times in terms of both sport and finances. In several finals on national and international level they Lost and only became second.

Important former players and club legends

Heinrich Kwiatkowski

Alfred „Aki“ Schmidt

Lothar Emmerich

Siegfried „Siggi“ Held

Reinhard Libuda

Manfred „Manni“ Burgsmüller

Eike Immel

Michael Zorc – der heutige Manager des BVB

Marcel Radukanu

Jürgen „die Kobra“ Wegmann

Norbert Dickel

Frank Mill

Andreas Möller

Stephane Chapuisat

Stefan Reuter

Matthias Sammer

Karl-Heinz Riedle

Lars Ricken

Jürgen Kohler

Thomas Helmer

Dede

Tomas Rosicky

Sebastian Kehl

Roman Weidenfeller

Nuri Sahin

Mats Hummels

Robert Lewandowski

Fans and Fanclubs

Borussia officially has over 500 fan clubs with more than 25,000 fans. The club has had problems with the fan group "Borussenfront", which attracted attention because of violent excesses and right-wing extremist slogans. This group has been pushed into the background by the club's own fan project and other fan groups in recent years.

Fan rivalries

The greatest rivalry is undoubtedly with the Gelsenkirchen neighbours, FC Schalke 04. This rivalry grew in the post-war period with the strengthening of the BVB in the area. Before the Schalker were the undisputed place deer in the pot. The big Ruhrpott Derby was created, which is today the most remarkable derby in Germany. The rivalry between the two clubs is so great that the two fan camps even hate each other. When the DFL determines the match schedule for the Bundesliga season, they take great care to ensure that both teams do not have home rights at the same time, thus avoiding an uncontrolled meeting of fans.

Another rivalry that has become increasingly important in recent years is that of FC Bayern Munich. Since the BVB is currently probably the strongest competitor on a national level for the Bavarians, the so-called German Classico has emerged. The players' enticements of the Bavarians from the Dortmund squad in the past also contributed to this rivalry.

There is also a rivalry with the direct neighbour in the district, the VfL Bochum, which, however, has declined in recent years because of the different leagues membership.

Fanfriendships

There is a loose friendship with the fans of Rot-Weiss-Essen, but it was rather the common dislike of FC Schalke 04. There are also contacts to the fans of Celtic Glasgow. This friendship is based on common popular players who played for both clubs. In the eighties there was also a fan friendship with the HSV fans, but it was ended by the Hamburg fans due to an incident in Gelsenkirchen. Loose friendships against FC Bayern Munich existed partly with TSV 1860 Munich, SC Freiburg and KSC. For some years now, Ultra groups from Dortmund and Cologne have been friends.

A really big fan friendship does not exist however, why often as battle cry - "No one likes us, we don´t care" which translates means "Nobody likes us, but we don't care - from the curve to be heard.

General information

The Borussia Dortmund ball club has established itself as the second force in German football behind FC Bayern Munich. Through the successes of the Klopp era with 2 German championships and the cup win and regular participation in the Champions League, the BVB was able to secure a financial advantage over the national pursuers in the table, which allows it to commit the best players of the Bundesliga who do NOT want to FC Bayern Munich. This in turn guarantees the Dortmunders a certain sporting success in every season, with the minimum goal of at least qualifying for the Champions League.

Bye

Tomtheone