Borussia Dortmund bid farewell to a year filled with memories
A 2024 of fond farewells, an epic Champions League final run and the return of old friends made it an emotive year for all connected with Borussia Dortmund.
The Black-and-Yellows began the year with their former title-winners Nuri Şahin and Sven Bender back at the club to assist coach Edin Terzić in what would ultimately be the tactician’s final season at the helm.
“One of our shared findings was the desire to give fresh impetus to the coaching staff,” Dortmund sporting director Sebastian Kehl announced as Şahin and Bender got to work at the club’s training headquarters. “We’re convinced the two of them will make us stronger as a team in order to reach our goals in the second half of the season,” Kehl insisted.
Watch: Dortmund won their first Bundesliga game of 2024 in Darmstadt
On the home front, Terzić’s men needed the lift having gone into the winter break in fifth spot with three top-flight defeats on their scorecard and a DFB Cup campaign that ended at the third-round stage. Significantly, however, the side from North Rhine-Westphalia had been faring well in Europe as they battled it out in a UEFA Champions League group of death. All told, there was plenty of promise for the new-look coaching set-up.
Notching up three Bundesliga wins with ten goals scored and Niclas Füllkrug and Donyell Malen finding the net for fun meant confidence was soaring at the beginning of the year. Although Bayer Leverkusen were opening up what would prove to be an unassailable gap at the top of the league going into February, Dortmund's run of four victories in six unbeaten games had them fighting it out among the division’s top four teams.
In the same month, a last 16 meeting with PSV Eindhoven was Die Schwarzgelben’s reward for finishing top of a Champions League section that contained Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan and Newcastle United.
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With Terzić and Co. successfully navigating that knockout round hurdle, talk of the possibility of an extra place for German clubs in a reworked Champions League format for the following campaign began doing the rounds. Despite an admirable away record, Dortmund’s Bundesliga form slipped slightly with a surprising home loss to Hoffenheim and draws against Heidenheim and Wolfsburg. A fifth spot in European club football’s elite competition would certainly ease the pressure in the race for a top-four finish.
By the time Dortmund got past Spanish giants Atlético Madrid in the Champions League last eight, the sky was suddenly the limit as to where the team’s European run might end.
In what could have turned out as a season-defining fixture in any previous campaign for Borussia, they took the lead away to fellow top-four hopefuls RB Leipzig thanks to returning loanee Jadon Sancho’s strike on Matchday 31 at the end of April. Yet led by former Dortmund coach Marco Rose, Die Roten Bulen stormed back to win 4-1 and a European semi-final first leg against PSG gained added importance. Win that, and fifth place in the Bundesliga – where Dortmund found themselves – would end up being enough for qualification for next season’s tournament as Germany having one of the strongest coefficient ratings.
Füllkrug netted the winning goal in the last-four first leg while Mats Hummels scored the only goal in Paris as, incredibly, the Black and Yellows made their third Champions League final, where they would face perennial competition winners Real Madrid.
Watch: The story of Marco Reus
By this point, it was known that club legend Marco Reus was leaving Dortmund at the end of the campaign. After 12 years with the first team, the former club captain had decided to call time on a career at the side that had earned him legendary status in the game.
“The club and I have come to the decision not to sign a contract extension,” the midfielder explained in a goodbye video before the season’s end. “I’ve dedicated half of my life to this club, been through a lot of highs and lows – more highs, in my opinion,” the player – who twice lifted the DFB Cup and made over 500 appearances in Black and Yellow – continued.
“Marco is one of this club’s greatest players,” CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke added. “Born in Dortmund, he spent 10 years in our academy, 12 years with the first team. His connection to Borussia Dortmund is extraordinary.”
Watch: Mats Hummels waves goodbye
Reus would later be joined by veteran Hummels in bidding farewell to Dortmund after a second spell at the club. Not before the pair focused in on a Champions League final against Madrid in London. With fifth place having been secured by the June 1 date for the showpiece game in England’s capital, the focus was now squarely on Dortmund’s challenge of winning the club’s second European Cup.
“I was 14 years old at the time (of Dortmund's 1997 triumph in Munich),” Terzić said in the build-up to the game. “The next day I was at the airport for the homecoming when they landed with my brother. We've only managed it once in the club's history, which also just shows how special this chance is for us,” the coach continued. “In one match, in 90 minutes, or in 120 minutes plus penalties, we're capable of beating any opponent in the world.”
Dortmund had their chances in the game – most notably through Karim Adeyemi – but Real Madrid eventually prevailed 2-0. After an unforgettable run to the final, Dortmund could leave Wembley with their heads held high, while Reus - and later Hummels - had a send-off in a fitting venue for their respective last games in Black-and-Yellow. The curtain also came down on Terzić’s time as coach the following month, with Şahin handed the reins for a new dawn at Dortmund.
With new faces like Serhou Guirassy and Waldemar Anton arriving from Stuttgart and Maximilian Beier, Pascal Groß and Yan Couto added to the mix, BVB appeared well set to begin Şahin’s first term in the hot seat. Racking up four wins in five unbeaten games at the season’s start filled fans with early optimism, yet a resounding 5-1 loss away to Stuttgart on Matchday 4 of the Bundesliga brought all concerned back down to earth.
Watch: Guirassy, Dortmund's new man about town
Inconsistency has followed, with Dortmund currently boasting the best home record in the top-flight this term, yet only managing to pick up a first win on the road against Wolfsburg on Matchday 15.
Despite having to deal with a significant injury list throughout 2024/25, Şahin will have hoped to have seen his charges higher than their sixth-placed standing going into the winter break. The five-time DFB Cup champions are also out of that competition following an extra-time loss to Wolfsburg.
However, just like last term, Dortmund are impressing in Europe once again. A heavy 5-2 loss at Real Madrid in a repeat of last season’s final aside (in a game Borussia had led 2-0), the Bundesliga outfit are on course for a place in the Champions League knokouts, having won four of their six games in the new league phase.
The aforementioned 3-1 Matchday 15 win at the Volkswagen Arena not only brought a modicum of revenge for the Cup loss against Wolfsburg, it also ended a run of three Bundesliga games without a win for Dortmund, who looked impressive in picking up a maiden victory on the road in the Bundesliga under Şahin. With the likes of talented attacker Jamie Gittens also stepping up with eight Bundesliga goal involvements this term, there are reasons for optimism.
“It shouldn’t be an excuse, but it’s also part of the truth: when I have my squad back, we’ll be good,” the coach said of his side’s injury woes in the first half of the season.
“We finally have to learn to be consistent,” he added, with Julian Brandt echoing Şahin’s thoughts. “We have to keep [asking] ourselves why we are not in second, third or fourth place, but in fifth or sixth place; we have to play more confidently, more maturely,” the 28-year-old said. In learning from what was a memorable, if at times frustrating 2024, consistency will be the key word for Dortmund going into a new year that offers promise if the talented side regularly find the right note.
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