How Borussia Dortmund Keeps On Producing World Stars

RB Leipzig may have pushed Bayern in the last few years but the main rival in recent times has been Borussia Dortmund">Borussia Dortmund. The club is one of the best supported in Germany but has been unable to rise to the occasion and win a ninth Bundesliga title. The last time the club finished top of the table at the end of the season was in 2012.
But Dortmund has been able to succeed in one important area. Its factory line production of future stars taking the game by storm has continued to be an inspiration. As the European football season draws to a close – and the best soccer apps offer their thoughts on the likely winners of the Bundesliga next season – we ask whether Dortmund can finally use its special skills to claim a title.
In the early 2000s, Borussia Dortmund did what many smaller clubs around Europe do in order to try to compete with the big domestic clubs. It spent. It spent a lot of money. In fact, in trying to keep up with Bayern Munich, Dortmund almost went bankrupt in pursuit of championships and the riches it needed to become a national and continental powerhouse.
But clawing its way back from the brink has seen Dortmund become one of the most respected clubs in Europe – and seen it win a few titles along the way. All it needed was a change of direction and a new plan. Out went spending money it didn’t have to bring in the biggest names and in came a new plan to develop young players from around the globe and turn them into world-beaters. Selling them on for a huge profit would then allow the club to begin the cycle once again.
Extensive scouting networks have changed Dortmund from a club that had won a few Bundesliga championships but had become an inconsistent challenger to the more dominant Bayern. There have been many young German players that have come through the club through this route. But it is the number of foreign future stars that have really earned Dortmund their reputation.
Jude Bellingham is the latest Dortmund graduate to set the game alight. Still only 20, the England midfielder is now seen as one of the most important players in his national set-up and has become the darling of Real Madrid after an incredible debut season in La Liga. He had only played one season of first team football in England before signing for Dortmund, and was initially impressed with how the Bundesliga club developed young players and gave them opportunities at an early age.
Bellingham could well be lifting the Champions League trophy with Real Madrid this season but he is just following in the footsteps of a number of other talented players to come through the Westfalenstadion finishing school. An inspiration for him was fellow England international Jadon Sancho, who is currently back at Dortmund on loan. But other bigger names can also be provided as examples of excellence.
Both Robert Lewandowski and Erling Haaland announced themselves to the world at Dortmund. Lewandowski joined from Polish club Lech Poznan in 2010 and went on to score 74 goals in 131 appearances. He was the most feared striker in Europe for a while and won two Bundesliga titles with Dortmund as well as a runners-up medal in the Champions League. In the end, he made the switch to Bayern and became even more successful before exiting for Barcelona. But his education was in Dortmund.
Erling Haaland played just over a season for Red Bull Salzburg before spurning the offers of a number of EPL clubs for a move to Dortmund. In just three injury-hit seasons, Haaland scored an incredible 86 goals in 89 games but only won one German Cup title. He actually scored a hat-trick in the first 23 minutes of his Dortmund debut, so it was inevitable that he would end up at one of the biggest clubs in the world.
Lewandowski and Haaland are just two of the biggest names to develop at Dortmund and go on to win everything in the game. Others include Ousmane Dembele, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and Christian Pulisic. All of those players refined their prodigious talents in Dortmund and have gone on to become some of the best players in the world game. The conveyor belt has continued to produce more as Borussia Dortmund aim to compete at the top level.
Dortmund has undoubtedly perfected the skill of identifying young talent and turning them into superstars. But the relative lack of silverware in the last 20 years will still rankle with the people in charge of the club. After changing tact and forgetting about financially competing with Bayern, Dortmund has won a couple of league titles and some other minor trophies. But Leverkusen’s Bundesliga triumph has dented its reputation somewhat.
Borussia Dortmund was supposed to be the one to usurp Bayern and now others have muscled in. In the last few years, Bayern had won the title almost despite its failings, so maybe Leverkusen’s win will change the way the rest of the league treats the national powerhouse.
Dortmund will no doubt continue to churn out more young talent and introduce us to more global superstars. But a Bundesliga triumph is what is surely desired above all by everyone connected to the club.