Borussia Dortmund’s reality has become one of disappointment

Eight rounds of Bundesliga action have gone by since Borussia Dortmund last found themselves in the top half of the table. Consider that for a moment.

This is a team that, based on resources, should be a permanent fixture in the top four at the lowest end of the expectations chart yet fans of the Schwarz-Gelben are once again suffering through a perplexing season.

It’s a campaign that began with a measure of optimism enveloping the club on the back of an improbable UEFA Champions League final appearance and what looked like a decent summer of transfer activity.

By signing Waldemar Anton and Serhou Guirassy from last season’s Vizemeister (runners-ups) VfB Stuttgart and adding the pacy and potential-blessed Maxi Beier from TSG Hoffenheim, it was logical to think BVB, who had finished fifth in the Bundesliga, were on their way back.

Yes, the legend Marco Reus and the experienced yet often abrasive Mats Hummels had said their goodbyes. Still, it resembled the ushering in of a new era with a new coach who understood the club.

In Dortmund, you often hear liberal use of the word Stallgeruch, which means the scent of the stable. It is deemed important to have this scent in your nostrils. In other words, no one can know Dortmund quite like someone enmeshed in Schwarz-Gelb and the club’s unique Ruhrpott aroma.

That a former player from the area in Nuri Şahin had enjoyed the apparent advantage of spending the previous Rückrunde (second half of the season) as assistant to predecessor Edin Terzić, was supposed to be proof positive of the Stallgeruch magic.

Off the pitch, Lars Ricken — 1997 Champions League final hero — had jumped ahead of former captain Sebastian Kehl into the sporting CEO’s chair with Kehl remaining as sporting director. Sven Mislintat, the controversial but clearly able talent spotter was also back.

The truth is the Hinrunde (first half of the season) merely emphasised BVB’s Bundesliga schizophrenia: very difficult to stop at home but visibly brittle on their travels.

It must be said that the Champions League was a different and better story. However, Şahin’s team made an early exit from the DFB-Pokal in October on a night in Wolfsburg when absences of key players — especially defenders through illness and injury — made the task well-nigh impossible.

The turn of the calendar year was what sealed Şahin’s fate. Defeats against defending champions Bayer Leverkusen and Eintracht Frankfurt were always possible but the shambles up north in Kiel sandwiched in between, illustrated BVB’s shortcomings.

When Şahin suffered a fourth straight competitive defeat in Bologna on the European stage, the die was truly cast. Mislintat followed suit soon after.

The choice of Niko Kovač to replace Şahin was perhaps logical as a high profile, hard taskmaster figure who was available and didn’t have any Dortmund history. An outside figure able to assess things independently was clearly important.

The only problem with bringing in Kovač in mid-winter was his reputation as someone who uses a pre-season to good effect with a strong emphasis on players’ fitness. That of course didn’t stop him arranging a Laktattest (a blood test that measures exercise intensity for the players) last week.

Against Lille in the Champions League, Dortmund’s fitness deficiencies were laid bare. After a promising first half in which the BVB players went crisply into challenges and worked their socks off with and against the ball, the second half saw them drop off and look frankly tired.

A 1-1 scoreline at home leaves BVB’s fate hanging on a shaky peg when they travel to northern France for Wednesday’s round of 16 decider.

This coming week will explain whether Dortmund can save their season. Augsburg this weekend is the sort of opponent the Schwarz-Gelben usually will conquer, although their away form has been excellent in 2025, as they are unbeaten on their travels with just one away goal conceded. So there could be a harter Brocken (tough nut to crack) quality to this assignment.

After that, away tests in Lille and against RB Leipzig will have a big say in how we quantify Dortmund’s season. For all the negatives, I think both are doable for Kovač and his players.

The Leipzig game wears the look of a game that could make or break the club’s aspirations of returning to the Champions League next season. That might sound like an odd thing to say regarding a team in 10th place but BVB only three points behind Leipzig who have been wackelig (shaky) and just six points behind Mainz, who are the current occupants of the fourth Champions League place.

By taking part in the FIFA Club World Cup this summer, Borussia Dortmund will be able to mitigate some of the shortfall should they miss out on the Königsklasse (high class) as the Champions League is often referred to in the German lexicon. However, it would still represent failure to hit the target by the club as a whole.

I think the easiest way to document BVB’s difficulties is to go player by player and compare and contrast with their rivals. Is there one Dortmund player who would currently get into the Bayern Munich or Leverkusen sides, for example?

Last season, we might have said goalkeeper Gregor Kobel. Perhaps earlier in this campaign you could have made a case for Jamie Gittens, but alas the young Englishman is stuck in something of a Formtief (a form dip).

Julian Brandt, the vice-captain, despite the confidence boosting words of Kovač a few weeks ago, is patently not in the same class as Jamal Musiala or Florian Wirtz. His understudy Gio Reyna has not grabbed the baton when it has reached him to show he can offer anything more incisive than Brandt.

Dortmund used to be the preferred address for top, young players seeking to enjoy the best of both worlds: a very high profile platform with the largest home attendance in Europe and an eventual stepping stone. Think Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham not so very long ago. The next talent was always seemingly around the corner and Dortmund was clearly the place to be to make those early professional years count.

I would submit that they’ve lost this mantle to Frankfurt who are now seeking to do what BVB used to excel at. So who are Dortmund now? Young players will continue to flow through their ranks but the club’s focus seems different. The Augsburg, Lille and Leipzig games will tell us a lot in the short term about the longer term substance of the case for BVB.