Key Figures — Borussia Dortmund

Matthias Sammer - The collector of titles: the

Matthias Sammer - The collector of titles: the Dresden-born player arrived in Dortmund in 1993 as a midfielder after a thoroughly unsuccessful spell at Inter Milan.

Dresden-born player arrived in Dortmund in 1993 as a midfielder after a thoroughly unsuccessful spell at Inter Milan. Sammer, always something of a coach on the pitch, had fallen out with Inter coach Osvaldo Bagnoli and wanted only to return to the Bundesliga. Dortmund completed the major winter transfer, and Ottmar Hitzfeld recognized his strength in duels, converting him into a libero.

The success rate was astonishing: two German titles in 1995 and 1996, the Champions League in 1997 and the Intercontinental Cup. In his pomp he became the prototype of a leader, indispensable also for the national team. With Sammer at the back, Germany won Euro 1996 and he was named European Footballer of the Year.

After his early playing career ended because of a knee inflammation that would not heal, he returned as coach in 2000, led Dortmund to the 2002 title and became the youngest title-winning coach in Bundesliga history. Since 2018 the Lion from Saxony has been back at Dortmund as an external advisor.

Juergen Klopp - The maker of champions: in

Juergen Klopp - The maker of champions: in Dortmund, football is not the nicest secondary matter in the world, it is the main thing, said Klopp.

Dortmund, football is not the nicest secondary matter in the world, it is the main thing, said Klopp. Known for his emotional touchline performances, Kloppo always knew how to polarize. Loud, intense and full of heart, he led BVB to league titles in 2011 and 2012 and to the DFB Cup in 2012 as well, completing the first double in club history.

Klopp's instinct for developing players had already become clear in Mainz and continued in Dortmund. One could even argue that there would have been no German World Cup triumph in 2014 without him: Mats Hummels became a Germany international under Klopp, and Mario Goetze was likewise one of his discoveries. But Klopp revived the club not only on the pitch.

His press-conference lines, his irony, his intelligence and his refusal to speak in cliches made him unique. Klopp was a people magnet, and his open style and comic timing conquered Dortmund and later Liverpool alike. Sportingly, he restored BVB to the top of the Bundesliga, re-established the club as the clear number two behind Bayern without losing touch with reality, and when he left in 2015 despite still having a contract, the farewell was full of tears. Many in Dortmund hoped it would not be forever.

Lars Ricken - The man for the big

Lars Ricken - The man for the big points: no player stands more clearly for BVB's youth development than Dortmund-born Lars Ricken.

points: no player stands more clearly for BVB's youth development than Dortmund-born Lars Ricken. The German A-youth champion of 1994 broke through in the same year in Ottmar Hitzfeld's star-studded side in the memorable UEFA Cup tie against Deportivo La Coruna, scoring in the final seconds of extra time to send Borussia into the quarterfinals. Ricken became one of the great one-club players in Bundesliga history, playing exclusively for BVB from 1993 to 2007, and he scored two of the most important goals in the club's history.

He headed Dortmund toward the 1995 championship against Hamburg and wrote himself into football history forever with his chipped 3:1 goal against Juventus in the 1997 Champions League final. He had been on the pitch for only 20 seconds when he scored. Later injuries slowed his career, and despite his immense talent his Germany career remained limited to 16 caps.

Even at the 2002 World Cup, where Hitzfeld thought he might have helped in the final against Brazil, he did not play.

Lothar Emmerich - Give me the cherry. The

Lothar Emmerich - Give me the cherry.

striker, who died in 2003, scored 126 goals in 215 Bundesliga matches and became top scorer in the 1965/66 European campaign with 14 goals. Four of them came in the semifinal against West Ham.

No player scored more goals in a single Cup Winners' Cup season than Emma, who constantly urged his teammates in Dortmund dialect to pass him the ball by shouting, Give me the cherry. That phrase, along with his loyalty and his unique finishing, made him a permanent crowd favorite. In 1966 he became the first BVB player to top the Bundesliga scoring charts with 31 goals, and in 1967 he shared the honor with the only striker of the era who was even better than him, Gerd Mueller.

His most famous goal, though, came not for Dortmund but for Germany at the 1966 World Cup, when he smashed home from an impossible angle against Spain. A goal for the ages. Emmerich returned to Borussia in 1999 as a fan officer, and whenever he and Alfred Aki Schmidt retold stories from the golden 1960s, you could hear a pin drop.

Michael Zorc - The loyal one: midfielder, captain,

Michael Zorc - The loyal one: midfielder, captain, the beating heart of BVB.

the beating heart of BVB. All 463 of his Bundesliga appearances came for Dortmund, making him the club's Bundesliga record player. From 1981 to 1998 he wore the eternal number eight, winning two league titles, the Champions League, the Intercontinental Cup and the DFB Cup before moving into management.

Since 2005 he has served as sporting director, with the black-and-yellow threads running through his hands. From head to toe, nobody is more BVB.

Alfred Adi Preissler (1921-2003): Decisive is what happens

Alfred Adi Preissler (1921-2003): Decisive is what happens on the pitch.

on the pitch. Gray is all theory, but what matters is on the pitch - that line by Adi Preissler, the grand seigneur of BVB, has been adopted by generations of coaches. The captain of the championship teams of 1956 and 1957 shaped the club's first great era.

Alongside Alfred Niepieklo and Alfred Kelbassa he formed the legendary inner-forward trio known as the Three Alfredos. Preissler also won six West German championships with Borussia and scored 175 goals in 294 Oberliga West matches for Dortmund and Preussen Muenster, plus eight in ten European games. In 1999 he was voted the club's striker of the century.

Long before marketing experts noticed it, Preissler and Borussia already represented true love. Yet one thing never stopped bothering him: he played only twice for Germany, because Fritz Walter stood higher in Sepp Herberger's esteem. The war, too, stole his best footballing years.

The Nazis, he once said, quite certainly stole 50 international caps from him.

Dede - The popular one: Leonardo de Deus

Dede - The popular one: Leonardo de Deus Santos arrived in Dortmund in 1998 at the age of 20.

Santos arrived in Dortmund in 1998 at the age of 20. The full-back became German champion in 2002 and 2011 and reached the UEFA Cup final in 2002. Because of his closeness to the fans he remains one of the club's most beloved players. In 2015 his farewell match at the Westfalenstadion drew 81,359 spectators, making it the best-attended testimonial in Europe.

Dieter Hoppy Kurrat (1942-2017): the terrier of BVB.

At just 162 centimeters, Kurrat may have missed out on a Germany career because of his size, but that hardly matters in Dortmund, where he is a legend. The little all-round midfielder was an incredible fighter who often drove stars such as Uwe Seeler, Luis Suarez, Guenter Netzer or Wolfgang Overath to despair.

In the 1963 German championship final, Cologne star Hans Schaefer reportedly had his first touch only after half an hour because Hoppy Kurrat was always one step faster. Kurrat played a gigantic 612 competitive matches for BVB and won both the 1963 title and the 1966 European Cup Winners' Cup. The sell-off of the Glasgow heroes later turned him into a lonely fighter, but he stayed with the club even after relegation, rejecting better offers from Hertha and Atalanta.

His farewell in the new Westfalenstadion was sour: the club undercounted the attendance and paid him less than expected, even though he had already gifted them a loyalty bonus.