German Bundesliga Football Club

Borussia Dortmund German sports club Full name Ballspiel Verein Borussia
History Entry to the Bundesliga First national title The Oberliga West, a first division league which included Borussia, dominated German football through the late 50s. 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 against Karlsruher SC. One year later, Borussia won with exactly the same team their second national title. After this coup the three Alfredo (Alfred Preißler, Alfred Kelbassa and Alfred Niepieklo) were legends in Dortmund. In 1963 Borussia Dortmund won the last final before the Bundesliga started. It was their third national title.

Borussia Dortmund In 1962, the DFB met in Dortmund and voted to finally establish a professional football league in Germany to begin play in August 1963 as the Bundesliga. Borussia earned its place among the first sixteen sides to play in the new league by winning the last pre-Bundesliga championship. Losing club Köln also earned an automatic berth. It was Dortmund's Friedhelm Konietzka who scored the first-ever Bundesliga goal barely a minute into a match which they would eventually lose 2–3 to Werder Bremen.

Borussia Dortmund In 1965, Dortmund captured its first German Cup. They had a mixed result the next year when they won the European Cup Winners Cup, but surrendered a commanding position atop the Bundesliga by losing four of their last five league games and finishing second, three points behind champions 1860 Munich. Ironically, much of 1860's success came on the strength of the play of Konietzka, recently transferred there from Dortmund. The 70s were characterized by financial problems and relegation from the Bundesliga in 1972 and the opening of the Westfalenstadion, named after its home Land, Westphalia in 1974. The club earned its return to Bundesliga in 1976, but continued to suffer from financial problems through the 80s. BVB narrowly avoided being relegated again in 1986 by winning a third decisive play-off-game against Fortuna Köln after finishing the regular season in 16th place.

Borussia Dortmund in 1993 made it to the UEFA Cup final, which they lost 1–6 on aggregate to Juventus. In spite of this result, Borussia walked away with DM25 million under the prize money pool system in place at the time for German sides participating in the Cup. Cash flush, Dortmund was able to sign players who later brought them a numerous honours later in the 1990s.

They won Bundesliga championships in 1995 and 1996 – with Matthias Sammer from the '96 side being named European Footballer of the Year.

Borussia Dortmund In a memorable 1997 UEFA Champions League Final in Munich, Dortmund faced a Juventus team featuring Zinedine Zidane. Karl-Heinz Riedle put Dortmund ahead shooting under the goalkeeper from a cross by Paul Lambert. Riedle then made it 2 with a bullet header from a corner kick. In the second half, Alessandro Del Piero pulled one back for Juve with a back heel. Then 20-year old substitute and local boy Lars Ricken latched on to a through pass by Andreas Möller. Only sixteen seconds after coming on to the pitch, Ricken chipped Angelo Peruzzi in the Juventus goal from over 20 yards with his first touch of the ball. With Zidane unable to make an impression against Lambert's marking, Borussia lifted the trophy with a 3–1 victory.

Borussia Dortmund then went on to beat Brazilian club Cruzeiro 2–0 in the 1997 Intercontinental Cup Final. The club was founded on 19 December 1909 by a group of young men unhappy with church-sponsored Trinity Youth, where they played football under the stern and unsympathetic eye of the local parish priest. Father Dewald was blocked at the door when he tried to break up the organizing meeting being held in a room of the local pub, Zum Wildschütz. The name Borussia is Latin for Prussia and was taken from the nearby Borussia brewery. 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 so familiar today.

Over the next decades the club enjoyed only modest success playing in local leagues. They had a brush with bankruptcy in 1929 when an attempt to boost the club's fortunes by signing some paid professional footballers failed miserably and left the team deep in debt. They survived only through the generosity of a local supporter who covered the team's shortfall out of his own pocket. Borussia Dortmund Full name Ballspiel-Verein Borussia www.bvb.de/
1909 e. V. Dortmund Nickname(s) Die Borussen (The Borussians) Die Schwarzgelben (The Black Yellows) Founded 19 December 1909 Ground Signal Iduna Park (Capacity: 80,720) Chairman Dr. Reinhard Rauball Manager Jürgen Klopp
League Bundesliga 2009–10 Bundesliga, 5th Website Club home page www.bvb.de