Key triumphs and major victories
Key triumphs and major victories
The greatest triumph came under coach Ottmar Hitzfeld in 1997. On May 28, 1997, Borussia Dortmund beat Juventus Turin 3-1 (2-0) in the final at Munich's Olympiastadion to become the first German Champions League winners. Karl-Heinz Riedle scored twice and Lars Ricken sealed victory with a legendary chip.
In the Bundesliga, the 2011/12 season — yielding the first "Double" in club history — represents the greatest domestic achievement. Under Jürgen Klopp, Borussia Dortmund defended the German championship in a long-distance duel with Bayern München and added the DFB-Pokal with a 5-2 demolition of Bayern in the Berlin final.
His enormous potential became apparent in 2011/12, when a BVB striker who had spent his first year mainly on the bench exploded into the most lethal goalscorer in German football. The Polish international scored 22 Bundesliga goals and 10 in the Champions League, terrorising defences with a combination of clinical finishing, intelligent movement and physical presence that defied his relatively slight frame. His four goals against Real Madrid in the 2013 Champions League semi-final — arguably the one of the most remarkable individual performances in Champions League history — made him a global sensation.
That he left for Bayern Munich in 2014 on a free transfer, having run down his contract, remains one of the most painful departures in Dortmund’s modern history.
The most dramatic title charge from behind came under coach Matthias Sammer in 2001/02. In the final three matchdays of the season, BVB overhauled Bayer Leverkusen in one of the most dramatic title races in Bundesliga history. Leverkusen, who had led for months and seemed destined for the treble, suffered a catastrophic collapse — losing the league, the DFB-Pokal final, and the Champions League final in the space of three weeks. Dortmund’s nerve held where Leverkusen’s cracked. The crucial 2-1 victory over Werder Bremen on the final day, secured by a Jan Koller goal and Jens Lehmann’s heroics in goal, sent the Westfalenstadion into raptures.
It was Sammer’s vindication and Leverkusen’s eternal nightmare — "Vizekusen" was born that day, and the wound has never healed.
Schalke champions in Dortmund? "That can’t happen!" — not just the fans’ sentiment but the team’s too. On the final matchday of the 2006/07 season, Schalke needed BVB to lose against a direct rival in order to claim the championship. Dortmund, with nothing to play for in the table, found something far more powerful: Revierderby pride. The team delivered a performance fuelled by pure spite, ensuring that Schalke’s title dream died in the Westfalenstadion. It remains one of the sweetest non-victories in BVB history — proof that in the Ruhr, denying your neighbour success can feel as good as achieving your own.
"Championship-worthy lightning in Munich," was how the publisher DIE WERKSTATT described this unforgettable footballing evening of February 26, 2011. For the first time in nearly 20 years, Borussia won at Bayern — Klopp's young side announcing themselves as genuine title contenders.
11-1 against Bielefeld: In the 1982/83 season, Borussia Dortmund scored ten goals in one half during their record 11-1 victory over Arminia Bielefeld on November 3, 1982. After a modest 1-0 at half-time, the floodgates opened in a manner the Bundesliga has never seen since. Manfred Burgsmüller, the ageless goal machine from Essen, scored five to cement his Dortmund legend. The Westfalenstadion crowd watched in disbelief as Bielefeld’s defence simply ceased to function. Burgsmüller would go on to score 135 Bundesliga goals for BVB, a club record that stood for decades.
he arrived at an age when most strikers contemplate retirement and proceeded to outperform players ten years his junior. The 11-1 remains Dortmund’s biggest ever Bundesliga win and one of the most extraordinary match results in Champions League history.
On May 13, 2021, interim coach Edin Terzic led Dortmund to a emphatic 4-1 DFB-Pokal final victory over RB Leipzig in Berlin. Jadon Sancho and Erling Haaland each scored twice in a dominant display that gave Terzic — the lifelong BVB fan — his first trophy as a head coach.
Dortmund's 2024 Champions League run was built on defensive resilience and big-game mentality. PSV Eindhoven were dispatched in the last 16. Atletico Madrid fell 5-4 on aggregate after a dramatic 4-2 second leg. Paris Saint-Germain were eliminated 2-0 on aggregate in the semifinal — with both goals scored at Signal Iduna Park. The journey ended at Wembley against Real Madrid.
Erling Haaland's arrival in January 2020 from RB Salzburg for 20 million euros was the transfer coup of the decade. In 89 matches, the Norwegian scored 86 goals — a ratio that defied comprehension. His Champions League hat-trick on debut set the tone. When Manchester City activated his 60-million-euro release clause in 2022, Dortmund lost a generational talent but had demonstrated their ability to attract and develop the world's best.
Jude Bellingham joined from Birmingham City as a 17-year-old in 2020. By 2023, the English midfielder was the Bundesliga's most complete player — captain material at 19, decisive in both penalty boxes, and the heartbeat of every Dortmund performance. Real Madrid's 103-million-euro offer was impossible to refuse.
After the chaos of the Sahin era, Niko Kovac's arrival in January 2025 brought immediate calm. The Croatian-German coach, who had won the Double with Frankfurt and coached Bayern Munich, implemented a pragmatic system that prioritized defensive solidity. The results came quickly — BVB climbed the table and re-established themselves as a top-four contender. For a club exhausted by coaching upheaval, Kovac's quiet competence was exactly what was needed.
The 1997 Champions League final against Juventus Turin in Munich remains the defining moment in BVB history. Karl-Heinz Riedle's two first-half goals gave Dortmund the lead, but it was Lars Ricken's audacious lob — just minutes after being substituted on — that sealed a 3-1 victory and Dortmund's place in football immortality. The triumph transformed a provincial Bundesliga club into a European giant and set in motion the commercial expansion that would follow under Niebaum.
On 13 May 2021, beating RB Leipzig 4-1 in Berlin. Sancho and Haaland each scored twice.
Erling Haaland scored 86 goals in 89 competitive matches for Borussia Dortmund between January 2020 and June 2022.
Under Niko Kovac, BVB stabilised and returned to the upper half of the table, competing for a Champions League place.