Sponsorships
For the 2018/2019 season, Borussia Dortmund added Electronic Arts Inc. as a new Champion Partner until 30 June 2022.
Borussia Dortmund has also partnered with the streaming service Perform Investment Limited, known as DAZN, since the beginning of the current season.
After initially joining as a Champion Partner for three years, ROWE MINERALÖLWERK GMBH extended its partnership agreement early until 2021/2022.
Hankook Reifen Deutschland GmbH, one of Borussia Dortmund's longstanding Champion Partners, also extended its agreement by a further season until 30 June 2020.
Transfer deals
Five players from last season's squad have moved to the English Premier League. Sokratis Papastathopoulos transferred to Arsenal FC, Borussia Dortmund and West Ham United agreed on a transfer for Ukraine international Andriy Yarmolenko, and Erik Durm has signed for Huddersfield Town.
Felix Passlack was loaned to Championship club Norwich City F.C. and André Schürrle was loaned to Fulham F.C.
Nuri Sahin transferred to SV Werder Bremen.
Furthermore, Christian Pulisic left Borussia Dortmund for Chelsea FC.
Borussia Dortmund loaned Swedish forward Alexander Isak to Eredivisie club Willem II Tilburg, Shinji Kagawa to Besiktas Istanbul and Jeremy Toljan to Celtic FC until the end of the season.
Capital expenditure
At the start of the 2018/2019 season, Belgium international Axel Witsel moved to Borussia Dortmund from Chinese club Tianjin Quanjian on a contract that runs until 30 June 2022.
In the summer of 2018, Borussia Dortmund also acquired Spanish centre-forward Paco Alcácer on a one-year loan from FC Barcelona that runs until 30 June 2019. In November 2018, Borussia Dortmund exercised the buy-out clause in the loan agreement to purchase Paco Alcácer for a fixed price. He signed a contract through 30 June 2023.
Lucien Favre's squad was also strengthened by the arrival of Morocco international Achraf Hakimi, who is on loan from Champions League winners Real Madrid until the end of the 2019/2020 season.
Borussia Dortmund signed Argentina U20 international Leonardo Balerdi during the winter transfer window.
Match operations
Of the 55,500 season ticket holders, only 139 opted to not renew their season tickets for the upcoming 2019/2020 season.
Other
After ending his career as a professional footballer, Roman Weidenfeller will continue to support Borussia Dortmund as a brand ambassador.
Dr Reinhard Rauball will step down as DFL President in the summer of 2019 after twelve years in office. He stressed that this decision applied only to his duties for DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH and not his future at Borussia Dortmund.
Borussia Dortmund has partnered with Amazon Prime Video to give its fans around the world a first-hand look behind the scenes. The four-part documentary series was filmed over the course of the past season and directed by Aljoscha Pause.
In late September 2018, the UEFA Executive Committee announced that Germany will host the 2024 European Football Championship. Germany most recently hosted this tournament in 1988. SIGNAL IDUNA PARK will be one of the venues.
DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH opened a representative office in New York, which will be the point of contact for media and marketing partners in the Americas. The office officially began its work in mid-October 2018. In addition to the Singapore office, which opened in 2012, the New York office is now the second international representative office operated by DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH.
DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH has decided that technical aids and electronic communications tools will be allowed on the coaches' bench in both the first and second Bundesliga divisions beginning with the 2018/2019 season. These aids and tools can be used for both coaching purposes and for tending to injured players. Handheld mobile devices such as tablets are permitted, as are communications between the technical zone and a member of the coaching staff sitting in the stands, for example.
DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH also presented additional measures for preventing match fixing. In addition to mandatory training for the professional squads of all clubs, the league will launch a revamped website, a new app and an e-learning tutorial for players in December 2019.
The DFL general meeting of disabled fan representatives was held in November 2018. Borussia Dortmund's representatives were in attendance and discussed various issues ranging from inclusion to diversity management through to accessibility at stadiums.
Borussia Dortmund used the home match against SC Freiburg on 1 December 2018 to highlight its various social projects promoting the inclusion of people with disabilities.
At the beginning of the 2018/2019 season, the Bundesliga introduced an official "Player of the Month" award. The winner is selected by DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH and EA SPORTS FIFA 19 on the basis of the players' individual performance data and a vote by fans and experts. Marco Reus won the inaugural award in September 2018 and was one of the nominees for December 2018.
Derbystar is returning to the Bundesliga and will once again provide the official match balls beginning with the new season. DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga's partnership with Derbystar will run for four seasons until 2021/2022.
At the initiative of the German Friends of Yad Vashem, Borussia Dortmund donated EUR 1 million to expanding the Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Center in Israel.