BVB will start the new 3. Liga campaign on Saturday afternoon (14:00 CET). Borussia Dortmund's U23s will be away to promoted Preußen Münster in an all-Westphalian affair.

The new 3. Liga season will begin with a highlight for the Borussia Dortmund U23s. An atmospheric away game awaits the Black & Yellows at the Preußenstadion, which is located only around 70 kilometres away. Home team Preußen Münster will go into the match brimming with confidence and euphoria, having only celebrated their promotion party a few weeks ago. 

"Münster are an experienced team that are very robust and tough-tackling," Dortmund coach Jan Zimmermann said with a view to the upcoming opponents. But his team will by no means head to Münsterland for the opening game of the season as outsiders; rather, they will be looking to carry over the momentum from their friendlies into the season. "We've created a good atmosphere, a good energy and lots of self-belief," said Zimmermann.

The U23s kept a clean sheet in four of their five pre-season friendlies. "Not everything that we set out to do has already worked out, but the boys defended very well in lots of matches," said Zimmermann in praise of his team's defensive work. He does not believe that this is a new strength, but rather a consistent continuation of the performances that came in the final stages of last season. "The lads defend in a highly responsible manner."

Despite all the self-belief in the Black & Yellow camp following an intensive pre-season period, the U23s will probably only reach full strength in the coming weeks. A number of players have been hardly or not at all available to the coach because they were training with the Bundesliga squad, joined the travelling party to the USA and only returned on Thursday.

Zimmermann is therefore happy with the fixture schedule, which will give his team a weekend off directly after the match in Münster. "We're not yet where we want to get to," remarked the coach in reference to the players who still need to be integrated over the course of the next few weeks. Only then will the procedures gradually become second-nature.  

This will be the first competitive meeting between Dortmund's U23s and Preußen Münster since Dortmund's 2020/21 promotion campaign, when the Black & Yellows won 2-0 at home in the first half-season and then drew 1-1 in Münster. 

Daniel Mertens