Opportunities

By once again directly qualifying for the UEFA Champions League, the club again has the opportunity to consolidate its standing as one of Europe’s top teams and to once more share in the profits distributed for participating in the lucrative competition.

Borussia Dortmund’s approach to its squad is one of continuity, but it also has an eye to creating new momentum and structures in its personnel choices. Head coach Niko Kovač extended his contract early until 30 June 2027 after putting on a master class in coaching in the 2024/2025 season to guide the team into one of the coveted UEFA Champions League spots at the end of the season despite trailing the pack by 10 points after match day 27. Niko Kovač’s assistant coaches are Robert Kovač, who has previously worked alongside Niko Kovač as assistant coach for numerous clubs and also played for Borussia Dortmund in the past, and Filip Tapalović, who has a wealth of international experience across various continents from his time as a player and a coach. In March 2026, Borussia Dortmund appointed Ole Book as its new Sporting Director. At SV Elversberg, Ole Book demonstrated his ability to achieve great sporting success, even with limited resources, in convincing fashion. As the Managing Director of Sport, he orchestrated the club’s remarkable rise from fourth-tier league play in the Regionalliga to become one of the top teams of the Bundesliga 2, all while systematically developing young talent and significantly increasing the squad’s value. His uncanny ability to find creative and bold solutions in the transfer market fits perfectly with Borussia Dortmund’s strategic philosophy. Despite his relatively young age, Ole Book already brings with him a wealth of experience as a scout, sporting director and managing director of sport and a thirst for success, great ambition and tremendous team spirit – values that fully align with Borussia Dortmund’s identity. Borussia Dortmund finished the past season in second place in the Bundesliga with 73 points, once again qualifying directly for the UEFA Champions League. Unlike in the previous season, it secured its UEFA Champions League spot, and thus a high degree of planning certainty, early on. The team only reached the round of 16 of the DFB Cup. The team’s performances in the UEFA Champions League were mixed. Borussia Dortmund set its sights on the round of 16 but fell short in the knockout phase play-offs, losing to Atalanta Bergamo. However, the fact that Borussia Dortmund amassed its fifth-highest Bundesliga points total during the season and boasted the Bundesliga’s best defence demonstrates the team’s tremendous potential. The job of the coaching staff is to make further adjustments so as to unlock that potential as much as possible over the course of the entire season and across all competitions and to get the team to play an attractive and successful style of football. The long-term focus at the level of sporting management offers Borussia Dortmund a solid basis for planning and gives those with sporting responsibility (in particular Managing Director of Sport Lars Ricken, Sporting Director Ole Book, and head coach Niko Kovač) the opportunity to keep building on the excellent and trusting relationships they already enjoy and to unlock the potential for improvement that is there to see. We are confident that this is the ideal team to lead Borussia Dortmund into the future. Borussia Dortmund pursues a dual strategy when putting together its squad: Firstly, it targets young, hungry and versatile stand-out players whose market values show great potential, either from its own youth academy or from other youth academies in Germany or abroad. Secondly, it gives its squad structure by signing experienced, quality players who are mentally strong with leadership capabilities that the younger players can turn to and develop under. Borussia Dortmund has an array of young, top players and talents in the likes of Fábio Silva, Maximilian Beier, Jobe Bellingham, Daniel Svensson and Carney Chukwuemeka, who have either already established themselves in the senior team or are on their way to doing so. In the 2025/2026 season, three young up-and-coming players, Filippo Mane, Luca Reggiani, and Samuele Inácio, who have risen through the club’s youth teams, made their débuts for the Italian senior national team. They have secured their places in Borussia Dortmund’s senior team, as did Mathis Albert, who made his professional début in the previous season. The healthy mix of youngsters and veterans in the squad as well as the blend of consistency and fresh ideas in its management is expected to help the team unlock its full potential and achieve the greatest possible success on the pitch. Borussia Dortmund has an excellent team, a fact that is not lost on other top European clubs. Accordingly, there is always the possibility of lucrative transfers, such as the completed transfer of Jamie Gittens to Chelsea FC (see the ad hoc disclosure dated 3 July 2025).

Borussia Dortmund sees further potential in its youth setup, where it lays the foundation for its sporting success. At the same time, it also makes smart, economical investments in young, talented players early on who show great potential, with the aim of honing their skills and subsequently generating significant earnings from future transfers. Borussia Dortmund has completely overhauled its youth development philosophy. The focus is no longer on titles at the youth level, but on the individual development of each player and helping them make the jump to men’s and professional football as early as possible. Borussia Dortmund views its youth teams (U17, U19, U21 and U23) as development incubators where talented players are brought through at an early age, challenged in higher leagues and deliberately exposed more complex match situations but also a strong culture of learning from mistakes, so that they can grow beyond their limits. The philosophy is to play a dominant, possession-based style of football at Champions League level with clear parameters (including a high pass completion rate, defined passing distances, and finding multiple options in tight spaces) in a fluid total football system in which players can seamlessly fill various roles and positions. We deliberately challenge or protect, as the case may be, players who physically mature early on or at a later stage by applying innovative concepts, such as biobanding and personalised development environments and plans. This ensures that it is long-term talent and the ability to learn – rather than short-term physical superiority – that makes the difference. Going forward, the success of the youth programmes will be measured by how many players reach the Champions League, first or second division levels, thereby delivering sporting, economic, and brand-related added value to Borussia Dortmund – with the clearly stated goal of becoming Europe’s premier youth development club. Borussia Dortmund is ideally staffed to accomplish this mission with Thomas Broich and Paul Schaffran, as well as the coaches of the youth teams (Daniel Rios, Felix Hirschnagl, Marco Lehmann and Karsten Gorges). The club has added new offices for the sports management team at the Dortmund-Brackel training ground in recent years. This investment helped to further consolidate all the areas under the direction of the Sports department. Borussia Dortmund hopes the direct proximity to the training ground will help it work with greater efficiency and purpose and further optimise its pipeline of talented youngsters for the senior team. Furthermore, in financial year 2023/2024, Borussia Dortmund entered into a purchase agreement to expand the training ground in Dortmund-Brackel, This expansion will enable professional training facilities to be set up for Borussia Dortmund’s women’s teams. In addition, Borussia Dortmund is investing in the construction of the BVB Health World medical centre in walking distance of the Dortmund-Brackel training ground in cooperation with Essen University Hospital. The planned medical centre will cover an area of 7,400 square metres with 5,000 square metres of offices for sports medicine, orthopaedics, cardiology, and radiology. It will be specifically tailored to the needs of professional and recreational athletes as well as people with an active and health-conscious lifestyle, and will also be dedicated to research. A particular focus will be on combining sports medicine and artificial intelligence: the renowned Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (IKIM) at Essen University Hospital will play a key role in the development of the BVB Health World. The plan is to offer a comprehensive range of premium services combining diagnostics, prediction, prevention, acute treatment, and rehabilitation. Borussia Dortmund’s teams will also receive medical care at the BVB Health World – with the clear aim of setting new standards in sports medicine. The aim is to further strengthen Dortmund-Brackel as a centre for sports and to promote a holistic approach going forward. At the end of December 2025, a further milestone was reached with the purchase of the plot of land, marking the transition from the planning to the realisation phase.

Borussia Dortmund maintains close and longstanding partnerships with its sponsors. Borussia Dortmund’s long-term partnership with the global sports marketing agency SPORTFIVE Germany GmbH, its marketing partner since 1999, runs until 30 June 2031. The collaboration covers all areas of marketing, such as the acquisition of sponsors, the expansion of partnerships and the marketing of the hospitality areas at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK. Borussia Dortmund and SPORTFIVE Germany GmbH have set themselves ambitious national and international marketing growth targets for the coming years. In addition to its present focal areas, SPORTFIVE Germany GmbH will also be responsible for marketing women’s football and e-sports. Borussia Dortmund was one of two German clubs represented at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, which was held for the first time in the summer of 2025 in the new 32-team format. The tournament was held from 15 June to 13 July 2025 in the United States. From a reputation and brand perspective, the goal was to use BVB’s presence in the US and its digital visibility to teach Americans about Borussia Dortmund’s unique history. The aim was to step up engagement efforts with the general public to win them over customers and fans and with companies to gain future partners, and to further strengthen existing partnerships. This was also helped significantly by the team’s successful run to reach the quarter-finals. In the summer of 2026, the United States co-hosted the 2026 FIFA World Cup together with Canada and Mexico. In addition to having a presence on the American market, Borussia Dortmund continues to be active on the Asian market. After having previously toured Tokyo in 2015 and 2017 and Osaka in 2024, Borussia Dortmund once again embarked on the “BVB Evonik Japan Tour” from 26 July to 2 August 2026, this time teaming up with its tour partners Evonik, Puma, Vodafone, ROWE, Topps and the SCO Group to visit Osaka and Tokyo. Borussia Dortmund played two friendly matches in the two cities in an effort to maintain the club’s presence in Japan and Asia overall. Borussia Dortmund is generally also represented in Asia by its two companies BVB Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. and Borussia Dortmund Football (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. The goal of such trips, which are a key component of Borussia Dortmund’s internationalisation strategy, is to bring the club even closer to and connect with its international fan communities and partners and give all fans from around the world the chance to immerse themselves in the world of Borussia Dortmund. Borussia Dortmund considers SPORTFIVE Germany GmbH to be a strong and reliable partner with a global marketing network and extensive expertise. Borussia Dortmund has entered into long-term contracts with its strategic partners (Vodafone Group until 2030, PUMA International Sports Marketing B.V. until 2034, and SIGNAL IDUNA Group until 2031), which give the club planning certainty. Borussia Dortmund also extended various other sponsorship relationships and entered into new contracts. The club has lost none of its appeal, despite the tense global economic situation.

In the 2025/2026 season, Borussia Dortmund welcomed virtually sell-out crowds to all of its home matches at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK and was not hindered in any way from directly engaging and interacting with its fans The infrastructure investments made in recent years in SIGNAL IDUNA PARK – in particular the comprehensive modernisation of the catering facilities and the associated logistics – continue to prove their worth on match days. For the 2026/2027 season, Borussia Dortmund is investing in particular in the modernisation of its “Borussia Park” hospitality area, with a view to making it more appealing and unlocking additional earnings potential in the long term. Borussia Dortmund also previously launched a digitalisation initiative at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK – from the media centre to the video walls – to seize the opportunity to make the stadium digitally fit for the future and thereby even more accommodating to fans and sponsors alike. This digitalisation process will be systemically driven forward.

Borussia Dortmund is also keeping abreast of the latest technological developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and is already transparently using numerous AI solutions across various specific areas. The use of artificial intelligence will help to optimise and automate processes throughout the Group. This will enable Borussia Dortmund to create new services and offers for members, fans and partners that previously would not have been technically or economically feasible. Borussia Dortmund’s overall objective is to use AI to make workflows more efficient and effective, thereby boosting productivity and easing the burden on employees. BVB’s own AI principles form the basis for keeping pace with and benefiting from technological developments. Maintaining a digital, data-driven focus and becoming experts in the use of cutting-edge technologies will enable us to harness competitive advantages going forward.