Those who suffered misfortune
Those who suffered misfortune
Flemming Povlsen, who astonished the football world with late-call-up Denmark at the 1992 European Championship in Sweden, was supposed to become BVB’s star signing. Instead, a catastrophic knee injury sustained in training turned the dream transfer into a nightmare. Povlsen had arrived from Borussia Mönchengladbach as one of the most exciting strikers in European football, but his knee never recovered. He played just a handful of matches, each one a painful reminder of what might have been.
The club had invested heavily in a player who would never deliver on his promise — not through any fault of his own, but through the cruel lottery of sporting injury. Povlsen’s case became a cautionary tale about the fragility of football careers and the enormous financial risk clubs take when betting on human bodies.
Otto Addo enjoys cult status among BVB fans. This is primarily due to one goal and one injury — both on September 24, 2003. In the European tie against Austria Wien, Addo scored the 1-0 in the 37th minute despite having torn his cruciate ligament moments earlier. BVB won 2-1; Otto Addo never played again.
Feiersinger joined Borussia Dortmund for the 1996/97 season. The Austrian defender had been a reliable performer all campaign, contributing to the defensive solidity that carried BVB to the Champions League final against Juventus in Munich. Then came the cruellest blow: Feiersinger was omitted from the matchday squad for the final itself. He watched from the stands as his teammates lifted the biggest trophy in the club’s history — a moment of supreme joy for everyone except the man who had helped make it possible. The decision, taken by coach Ottmar Hitzfeld for tactical reasons, was professionally understandable but humanly devastating.
Feiersinger never spoke publicly about his pain, but teammates later revealed that the experience haunted him. He had done everything asked of him, yet when the moment of glory arrived, he was excluded from it.
Rüßmann was one of the players who represented both Borussia Dortmund (1980-1985) and Schalke 04 (1969-1973, 1974-1980). After his playing career, he worked as manager at Borussia Mönchengladbach and VfB Stuttgart. Rüßmann died on October 2, 2009 — a life cut short far too early.
From 2018, Kevin Großkreutz became the first 2014 World Cup winner to play in the 3. Liga. The Dortmund-born defender, who had been a key part of Klopp’s double-winning squad, saw his career unravel through a series of off-field incidents and diminishing form. Großkreutz was Dortmund through and through — born in the city, raised as a fan, tattooed with the club crest. His departure in 2015 began a downward spiral through Stuttgart, Galatasaray, and Darmstadt before he landed at third-division KFC Uerdingen. The sight of a World Cup winner playing in front of 3,000 spectators in Krefeld was football’s version of a Greek tragedy.
Großkreutz himself confronted his decline with a mixture of defiance and dark humour, but for BVB fans who remembered his tearful celebrations after winning the Bundesliga, the trajectory was heartbreaking. He later returned to amateur football in Dortmund’s lower leagues, full circle back to where it all began.
Just ten days after his 31.5-million-euro transfer from Ajax in July 2022, Sebastien Haller was diagnosed with testicular cancer. The Ivorian striker underwent surgery and chemotherapy, missing the entire first half of the season. His comeback in January 2023 was emotional but his performances never reached pre-illness levels.
Marco Reus's career is defined by what-ifs. 54 documented injuries cost him hundreds of matches, the 2014 World Cup (injured in the final warm-up match), and almost certainly at least one Bundesliga title. His 2023 near-miss — the championship lost in the 89th minute of the final matchday — was the ultimate cruel twist.
The April 11, 2017 attack on the BVB team bus left Marc Bartra with shrapnel injuries and the entire squad traumatized. The team was forced to play their Champions League quarterfinal against Monaco just 24 hours later — a match they lost 2-3. The psychological scars lasted far longer than the physical ones.
When Nuri Sahin was appointed BVB head coach in September 2024, it seemed like a fairy tale: the club's youngest-ever Bundesliga player returning to lead his boyhood team. The reality proved brutal. Sahin's idealistic attacking philosophy crumbled against Bundesliga opposition, results deteriorated, and the nadir came with a humiliating 2-4 defeat at promoted Holstein Kiel. His dismissal in January 2025, after just four months, was a tragedy born of misplaced romanticism — the belief that love for a club can substitute for coaching experience at the highest level.
Haller was diagnosed with testicular cancer just ten days after his 31-million-euro transfer to BVB in 2022. He returned after chemotherapy but never regained his best form.
Reus suffered 54 documented injuries during his BVB career, missing an estimated 150+ matches including the 2014 World Cup final.
On 11 April 2017, three explosive devices detonated near the BVB team bus before a Champions League quarter-final against AS Monaco. Marc Bartra was injured.