Bundesliga 2025/26 Tactical Previews: Borussia Dortmund | OneFootball

The 16th installment of our 18 tactical previews to be released here on Get German Football News tackles the always thorny Borussia Dortmund question. German football’s perennial “also-rans” still smart from the fact that Bayer 04 Leverkusen claimed (in Sebastian Kehl’s words) their “legitimate inheritance” apparently earned from their decade-plus of finishing behind FC Bayern Munich. Yikes. Kehl would have done really well to keep his mouth shut before unleashing that immortal quote.

Is this the year Dortmund finally claim said “inheritance”? Of course not. The Westphalians stand less of a chance of contending for the title this year than perhaps any of the five or six years prior. Just prior to every season, Kicker asked all German top flight head coaches to tip who will take the league. Like in many years past, all 18 Bundesliga trainers selected Bayern. The last coach the author remembers actually tipping Dortmund was Werder Bremen’s Florian Kohfeldt about five years ago.

Hrumph.

We can still have a lot of fun discussing this team.

Let’s proceed with BVB.

Borussia Dortmund

The Dortmund analysis (like that of Bayern) will focus heavily on both personnel shifts and build some thoughts on the summer’s Club World Cup into the “notes from camp” section. Both Dortmund and Bayern still have a lot of personnel work to do after an exhausting summer that did help them generate some extra revenue, yet led to plenty of fatigue amongst the administrative ranks and even some bad injuries to the players. Two of Germany’s largest clubs are presently working in “slow-burn” mode.

Major personnel shifts, Dortmund

Estimated summer transfer balance = +€11.5 million

Very much a typical BVB summer in that at least one English attacker was sold off to the Premier League. Aufwiedersehen Jamie Gittens! In this case, the German word that translates to goodbye is actually meant literally. We look forward to seeing the 20-year-old back in the Bundesrepublik on loan at some point. That isn’t meant to be a snarky Jadon Sancho quip either. Gittens a really nice lad who invested a lot of time in learning German over the course of his five years in the Ruhr. He certainly didn’t need to shorten his name for us!

Soumaïla Coulibaly made a quick trip back over to the Schwarzgelben locker room for the Club World Cup before finally being sold permanently to Racing Straßburg. He’s welcome back too should he ever wish to hop back across the border from Alsace. Youssoufa Moukoko is always welcome back should he find his new Danish confines too frigid. Yes, we all knew in our hearts that his listed age wasn’t accurate. The German phenom has still been through a lot for someone who’s still – in the final analysis- just a kid.

We’ll have to put all this unfortunate business with Sebastien Haller’s salary behind us and remember the good old days. His time running with the Eintracht Frankfurt “Büffelherde”. His inspiring comeback from testicular cancer. AFCON 2025. All the best to the Ivorian international as he heads to Utrecht! Loan outs Kjell Wätjen (Bochum) and Diant Ramaj (Heidenheim) are good enough to be kicking regularly in BVB colors once they get back. The same obviously does note apply to keeper Marcel Lotka, whose weird story might find an interesting new chapter or another bad ending in Düsseldorf.

It’s “Hey Jobe” time as Dortmund now welcome the younger Bellingham brother to the Pott. The 19-year-old received Giovanni Reyna’s No. 7 tricot as a welcoming gift. Yeouch. The permanent purchases of Daniel Svensson and Yan Couto don’t really count as new additions as they were here. Former Bochum keeper Patrick Drewes is a new face. Seriously. Dortmund signed the VfL net-minder at the center of the big flare controversy last season (otherwise known as the story that wouldn’t die) to work as a third stringer.

Notes from camp, Dortmund

Technically speaking, the Club World Cup does count as the pre-season. Like their league rivals Bayern, Dortmund received a “training camp before training camp”. American footballing enthusiasts might not quite like that designation. The fact remains that this summer’s USA-hosted competition essentially counted as the “Junior High School” of football tournaments. Spotty attendance figures and very often half-measured play from the teams confirmed this. It might have been the case that some Junior High athletic fixtures in the States might be better attended this year.

What BVB lessons can we glean from the CWC? Most importantly – to take a direct quote from BVB sporting director Sebastian Kehl again – we can be glad that it’s over. While Dortmund didn’t suffer as big of a direct devastating casualty over the course of the tourney as Bayern did, the loss of Julien Duranville still stings. It’s also perfectly legitimate to ask if heavily workloads over the summer led to defenders such as Julian Ryerson, Yan Couto, and Niklas Süle being more susceptible to recent injury. Global football is truly getting a tad too crazy for vulnerable humans.

Anyway,s Serhou Guirassy (with his four tournament goals) is the clear winner from the CWC. To this one can add attacking midfielder Felix Nmecha, who developed a camaraderie with his pseudo-English colleague Bellingham over the course of the competition. Julian Brandt – while unquestionably inconsistent – had his fair share of moments. One really wishes those stories about his BVB future would stop cropping up. Just let the 29-year-old talent play, already! He’ll supply plenty of his moments both here and elsewhere.

It was Brandt who caught the eye most in the first test fixture back from the Club World Cup break. The 48-times-capped international worked alongside Karim Adeyemi in a 3-4-1-2. Brandt was involved in four of the six first-half goals in a 7-1 friendly win over Sportfreunde Siegen, grabbing a brace and setting up two more. Bellingham worked well as a ten in that one. Young central defender Elias Benkara (18) was also given a run-out and scored a goal. Future Pokal starter Filippo Mané began to impress in his own audition.

In a higher caliber test at Lille OSC, goals from Guirassy (from the spot), Karim Adeyemi, and Pascal Groß proved sufficient to top the French guests 3-2. A 3-5-2 from Niko Kovac held stable until endless substitutes began pouring on not long after the hour-mark. Lille scored the last two goals late. German football lovers everywhere had a nice laugh watching ex-Dortmund player Thomas Meunier snatch a late tally. BVB supporters surely at least got a chuckle out of that one. A capacity crowd of 81,365 then packed Signal Iduna for the last warm-up

A 1-2 loss to Juventus in the final friendly actually saw club legend Mats Hummels suit up and start on a special one-day-contract. The 36-year-old put in a 19-minute-shift. Kovac employed a generally weird 3-1-4-1-1 looking mess in this one. Svensson played in the six position alongside Marcel Sabitzer depending on the situation. Sabitzer, Bellingham, and Pascal Groß rotated in central midfield and repeatedly sought depth. Adeyemi occupied the left wing. There was no real right winger to speak of unless on counts the “sometimes” Ryerson.

Juventus took advantage to score two goals in a pretty lopsided contest. Maximilian Beier pulled one back late to largely erase the memories of a languid and error-prone performance that didn’t really matter as this game was just about honoring Hummels, trying a few things out, and getting the supporters back into the Westfalen Stadion. An excellent dribble and finish from Beier on the 89th-minute 1-2. Worth a look if highlights are available online.

Winners from camp, Dortmund

Karim Adeyemi, RW/LW

It might simply be a case of “nowhere to go but up” for this popular German talent. His beastly performances for the Germany U21s last autumn were rudely interrupted by injury and Germans were at least happy to witness him return late last year and get his name of the scoresheet in five of the final Bundesliga fixtures in which he featured. Adeyemi barely featured at all in the CWC and Beier retains the edge over him should Kovac wish to employ a classic double striker set. This analysis doesn’t happen to think he will.

The general nature of Kovac’s tactics obviate the need for two target forwards. One top-axis actor can always retain more flexibility. Moreover, Beier’s positive experiences on the right wing last year and Adeyemi’s skill on the left means that the BVB trainer can always deploy all three of them up front. Beier and Adeyemi even have a proven track record of working together in the event that Guirassy is unavailable. One just has the feeling that the 23-year-old is in for a solid year. Call it a hunch.

Jobe Bellingham, CM

He’ll be just fine. Those concerned that Kovac will over-tax him with overly complicated and demanding tactical deployments really have nothing to be concerned about. Jobe has performed well as an eight, six, and ten. The younger Bellingham brother does appear to be more gifted farther down-pitch than his elder brother, but he’s also only 19-years-of age. Tons of upward potential for a player still learning and growing in both a physical and literal sense. The eight partnership with his fellow English compatriot (below) might begin to blossom soon.

Felix Nmecha, ATTM

One hopes that Kovac won’t waste the resurgent German international by using him as one of those so-called “holding sixes”. Nmecha certainly possesses the pace to make him an unconventional, and perhaps dangerous, fit for that position. Whatever ends up happening, Nmecha looked very good in both the CWC and camp. He appears to be fit and very sharp when it comes to his touches. Nmecha plays the silent, unsung hero for Dortmund these days with great break-up-play and counter initiations. In point of fact, he can probably thrive in any midfield position in this form.

Marcel Sabitzer, ADM

Have we seen the end of the “Howitzers from Sabitzer”? Considering the Austrian hasn’t been much of a goal-scoring-threat for some time, those days appear long-gone anyway. They’re certainly over now as the 31-year-old has been filling in for the injured Emré Can in defensive midfield as of late and doing quite the job. Sabitzer captains the defensive ranks well with his own superb break-up-play and counter initiations. No need for Nmecha to move back with Sabitzer in this form. Emré “Can” also take his time coming back.

Losers from camp, Dortmund

Giovanni Reyna, ATTM

As famous George Carlin once remarked, “they call it the ‘American Dream’ because you have to be asleep to believe it”. Most of us one-time GR7 proponents  just want this to be over with already. It’s not pleasant, and he’s officially not GR7 anymore. There must be some place Gio can go to quietly rebuild his career. All that natural pace and creativity somehow squandered due to the injuries, confidence issues, and the strange criticism that he just doesn’t want it anymore. Dortmund need to do their jobs here and get him shipped elsewhere.

Cole Campbell, LW

Another American unfortunately makes the list. As someone who scouted him live on a few occasions, the author never really understood all of the transfer hype surrounding this 19-year-old over the course of the summer. A string of solid 3. Liga performances for BVB II don’t necessarily render him ready to make the step up. He didn’t factor in much at all in camp and Kovac had no use for him during the CWC. This youngster simply needs more time.

Salih Özcan, CM

Not even the slew of midfield injuries can help save Köln-native. Özcan can’t buy a deployment these days. Nothing went right for the 27-year-old on loan at Wolfsburg during the beginning of last season or after the early BVB recall. After sitting on the sidelines throughout most of camp, Dortmund are shopping him actively but can’t find a taker.

Tactical scout, Dortmund

A flurry of half-chances in the opening 45 minutes against Rot-Weiß-Essen didn’t do much for BVB scouters in the opening round Pokal fixture. Gregor Kobel was called upon to make some stellar saves in the first half in order to ensure that the Westphalian favorites didn’t fall too far behind. Overall, Kovac’s makeshift defense held up largely okay. Matters grew a little more concerning after the restart when this constellation began to look stale.

Lineup—Dortmund—DFB Pokal

When the latest version of the 3-3-2-2 came out flat after the break, Kovac might have done better to get some fresh legs on quicker. Brandt and Bellingham weren’t introduced for Groß and Beier until the 67th-minute. That got a few things rolling. Guirassy got some looks in from open play thanks to the switches and Brandt delivered a fine free-kick surface. A very nice bit of individual class from Guirassy in the 79th enabled Dortmund to eke out a deserved, if not a bit lackluster, 1-0 win.

Moving forward, Kovac will have to do something to kick-start an attack that only produced an xG total of 0.86. Heading to the Millerntor to kick off the season against FC St. Pauli constitutes no easy task, even if Alexander Blessin’s Kiekickerhave plenty of problems of their own. Thankfully, some of the lessons from the highly experimental Juventus friendly can be incorporated. We should see die Schwarzgelben get off to a successful enough start to the season in this:

Lineup—Dortmund—DFB Pokal

This is one of those odd 4-4-2s that relies on a “diamond back four” and a set of high rotating eights. As it turns out, it’s right up Kovac’s alley. The current BVB trainer sometimes used this at Bayern and Frankfurt. If the author were to pick something he thought Kovac might be going for in the final friendly, it might be this. It would also make a great deal of sense against St. Pauli’s projected 3-4-3.

In terms of injury updates, there are reliable reports suggesting that Couto’s injury is actually not severe at all. The Brazilian could be back in action in time for the weekend. If not, Julian Ryerson (who also took a hit to the calf recently) is projected to be fit in time by the very same reports. What’s going on with Adeyemi isn’t entirely clear yet. The 23-year-old dressed for the Pokal, but remained unused on the bench.

If Adeyemi is fit, he should probably start above Beier.

Fun to talk about Dortmund.

There will be fun times this season too.

Just keep title-aspirations comfortably at zero.

GGFN | Peter Weis