Willi Burgsmüller was the first out. One by one Norbert Dickel called each individual onto the pitch. Burgsmüller, part of the 1956 title-winning team, was followed by the heroes of Glasgow, who became the first German team to win a European club competition in 1966, the members of the promotion-winning team of 1976 and - last but not least - the 1996 champions.

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Mats Hummels and Bruni Burgsmüller

To round off this Week of Tradition, the South Stand gave the heroes of yesteryear a rousing welcome. "We're all Dortmund lads," sang the fans, and Burgsmüller and Co. seemed touched. "We didn't have such a wonderful stadium then," said Wolfgang Paul, captain of the 1966 team. It appeared as if he wanted nothing more than to have experienced the feeling of playing in front of 81,000 in Signal Iduna Park himself...

Burgsmüller and Paul were joined by Theo Redder, Aki Schmidt, Siggi Held, Hans Tilkowski, Hoppy Kurrat, Lothar Geisler, Reinhold Wosab and Hermann Straschitz from the team that beat Liverpool 2-1 AET on 5 May 1966. They were followed by the promotion-winning side of '76: Manfred Ackermann, Burghard Segler with their then coach Otto Rehhagel. Lastly came the champions of '96: Michael Zorc, Wolfgang de Beer, Knut Reinhardt and Lars Ricken.

"We want to continue our positive tradition in years ending in 6"

After the match against 1. FC Köln, the teams of past and present went over to the South Stand together. Later on, they all met in the Borosseum (the club's museum). Hans-Joachim Watzke was particular delighted with "how much respect you showed towards the former champions. That gave a good image of Borussia. You could see the capacity of tradition to connect people," said the BVB boss in a speech to the current crop, who have an opportunity to build on the club tradition in years ending in "6" by following up the successes of 1956, 66, 76 and 96 with a DFB Cup win on Saturday: "We want to continue the tradition in years ending in 6. Be courageous. You are capable of beating Bayern!"

Boris Rupert

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