History
BVB's early years
The club was founded on December 19, 1909 by a group of young men unhappy with church-sponsored Trinity Youth, where they played football under the stern and unsympathetic eye of the local parish priest. Father Dewald was blocked at the door when he tried to break up the organizing meeting being held in a room of the local pub, Zum Wildschütz. The name Borussia is Latin for Prussia and was taken from the nearby Borussia brewery. The team began play in blue and white striped shirts with a red sash, and black shorts. In 1913, they donned the black and yellow strip so familiar today.
Over the next decades the club enjoyed only modest success playing in local leagues. They had a brush with bankruptcy in 1929 when an attempt to boost the club's fortunes by signing some paid professional footballers failed miserably and left the team deep in debt. They survived only through the generosity of a local supporter who covered the team's shortfall out of his own pocket.
World War II and the postwar
The 30s saw the rise of the Third Reich which restructured sports and football organizations throughout the nation to suit the regime's goals. Borussia's president was replaced when he refused to join the Nazi party, and a couple of members who surreptitiously used the club's offices to produce anti-Nazi pamphlets were executed in the last days of the war. The club did have greater success in the newly established Gauliga, but would have to wait until after World War II to make a breakthrough. It was during this time that Borussia developed its intense rivalry with FC Schalke 04, the most successful side of the era. Like every other organization in Germany, Borussia was dissolved by the Allied occupation authorities after the war in an attempt to distance the country's institutions from the so-recent Nazi past. There was a short-lived attempt to merge the club with two others - Werksportgemeinschaft Hoesch and Freier Sportverein 98 – as Sportgemeinschaft Borussia von 1898, but it was as Ballspiel-Verein Borussia (BVB) that they made their first appearance in the national final in 1949 where they lost 2:3 to VfR Mannheim.
The Oberliga West, a first division league which included Borussia, dominated German football through the late 50s. The club claimed its first national title in 1956, followed up with another win the next season, and then made a losing appearance in the 1961 final.
Entry to the Bundesliga
In 1962, the DFB (Deutscher Fussball Bund or German Football Association) met in Dortmund and voted to finally establish a professional football league in Germany to begin play in August of 1963 as the Bundesliga. Borussia earned its place among the first sixteen sides to play in the new league by winning the last pre-Bundesliga championship. Losing club 1. FC Köln also earned an automatic berth. It was Dortmund's Timo Konietzka who scored the first-ever Bundesliga goal barely a minute into a match which they would eventually lose 2:3 to Werder Bremen.
In 1965, Dortmund captured its first German Cup. They had a mixed result the next year when they won the European Cup Winners Cup, but surrendered a commanding position atop the Bundesliga by losing four of their last five league games and finishing second, three points behind champions Munich 1860. Ironically, much of 1860's success came on the strength of the play of Konietzka, recently transferred there from Dortmund. The 70s were characterized by financial problems and relegation from the Bundesliga in 1972 and the opening of the Westfalenstadion, named after its home Land, Westphalia in 1974. The club earned its return to Bundesliga in 1976, but continued to suffer from financial problems through the 80s. BVB narrowly avoided being relegated again in 1986 by winning a third decisive play-off-game against Fortuna Köln after finishing the regular season in 16th place.
The club did not enjoy any significant success again until a German Cup win in 1989.
The 90s
Fortune smiled on them in 1993 with a run to the UEFA Cup final, which they lost 1-6 on aggregate to Juventus. In spite of this result, Borussia walked away with DM25 million under the prize money pool system in place at the time for German sides participating in the Cup. Cash flush, Dortmund was able to sign players who later brought them a string of honours through the rest of the 1990s. They won Bundesliga championships in 1995 and 1996 – with Matthias Sammer from the '96 side being named European Footballer of the Year.
In a memorable 1997 UEFA Champions League Final in Munich Dortmund defeated a Juventus team featuring Zinedine Zidane 3-1. Karl-Heinz Riedle put Dortmund ahead finishing from Paul Lambert's cross. Riedle then made it 2 with a bullet header from a corner kick. In the 2nd half Alessandro Del Piero pulled 1 back for Juve. Then 20 year old substitute and local boy Lars Ricken latched on to a through pass by Andreas Möller. Only 16 seconds after coming on to the pitch Ricken chipped Angelo Peruzzi in the Juve goal from over 20 yards with his first touch of the ball.
Borussia then went on to beat Cruzeiro 2-0 in the 1997 Intercontinental Cup Final.
21st century and Borussia "goes public"
At the turn of the millennium, Borussia Dortmund became the first – and so far the only – publicly traded club on the German stock market. Two years later they won their third Bundesliga title. The club had a remarkable run at the end of the season to overtake Bayer Leverkusen, securing the title on the final day. In the same season Borussia lost the final of the 2002 UEFA Cup to Dutch side Feyenoord.
Dortmund's fortunes have steadily declined since then. Poor financial management led to a heavy debt load and the sale of their Westfalenstadion ground. The situation was compounded by failure to advance in the 2003 Champions League when the team was eliminated on penalties in the qualifying rounds by Club Brugge. Borussia was again driven to the brink of bankruptcy in 2005, the original €11 value of its shares having plummeted by over 80% on the Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse (Frankfurt Stock Exchange). The response to the crisis included a 20% pay cut to all players.
Signal Iduna Park
The team still plays at the leased Westfalenstadion, named after its home state of Westphalia. To raise capital, the stadium was renamed Signal Iduna Park, after a local insurance company, in 2006 under a sponsorship agreement that runs until 2011. The stadium is currently the largest football stadium in Germany with a capacity of 81,264 spectators, and hosted several matches in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, including a semi-final. Borussia Dortmund enjoys the highest average attendance of any football club in Europe, at more than 80,000 per match (2004).
Current notables on the team roster include Alexander Frei, Sebastian Kehl, Roman Weidenfeller, Mladen Petrić, Dede, Christian Worns, Nuri Sahin. The team suffered a miserable start to the 2005–06 season, but rallied to finish seventh. The club failed to gain a place in the UEFA Cup via the Fair Play draw. The club's management recently indicated that the club again showed a profit, however this was largely related to the sale of David Odonkor to Real Betis and Tomas Rosicky to Arsenal.
In the 2006–07 season, the club unexpectedly faced serious relegation trouble for the first time in years. The team went through three coaches and appointed Thomas Doll on March 13, 2007 after dropping to just one point above the relegation zone. Christoph Metzelder also left Borussia Dortmund on a free transfer.
In the 2007–08 season, the club has lost to many of the smaller clubs in the Bundesliga. This season is one of the worst in 20 years. Neverthless they reached DFB Pokalfinal against Bayern Munich and lost 2-1 in extra time. They have also reached UEFA cup because Bayern already qualified for Champions league.
Honours
Borussia Dortmund display a gold star on their jerseys identifying them as having won at least three national titles in the Bundesliga. The club currently has six such titles to its credit, as well as German Cup wins and international honours.
German Champions: 1956, 1957, 1963 (the 1956 and 1957 titles marked the only time a team had won consecutive titles with the same squad)
German Champions (Bundesliga): 1995, 1996, 2002
DFB Pokal (German Cup): 1965, 1989
DFB-Supercup: 1989, 1995, 1996
Fuji-Cup: 1991, 1993
UEFA Champions League: 1997
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1966 (this makes BVB the first German team to win a European title)
Intercontinental Cup: 1997
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