For the third year in a row Borussia announced a double-digit million profit to shareholders at the annual general meeting. “From the very bottom we have turned ourselves into a club that has won titles and no longer has to pay a penny of interest to any bank anywhere in the world,” said Hans-Joachim Watzke with pride.

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In the space of 10 years Borussia Dortmund had completed a fairy-tale turnaround. And so shareholders had nothing but praise for the club's business policy. The increase in capital stock from a few backs back, according to Watzke, turned into “a win-win situation for all concerned.” The market value of the company increased by 200 million euros, shareholders were able to count on a rise in value of around 30 percent over the past 12 months.

At the general meeting vice president Gerd Pieper and treasurer Dr. Reinhold Lunow were confirmed in their posts for a further three years. The fan club and promotions department celebrated its tenth anniversary. Their membership has risen to 15,000, 300 of whom are actively involved on a volunteer basis. There are eight working groups involved in supporter issues. The focus was on fan policy. Hans-Joachim Watzke and Dr. Reinhard Rauball took note of and listened to what the supporters had to say. “The department is a stable and dependable partner. I'm particularly impressed by their anti-racism campaigns,” said Rauball.

And on the sporting front? After a brilliant first half Borussia again come away empty-handed against Bayern Munich as Marco Reus's  opening goal was cancelled out by late goals from Robert Lewandowski and Arjen Robben (penalty), which sealed a 2-1 victory for the Bavarians. As well as dropping three points in Munich, Borussia also lost Mats Hummels who suffered an ankle injury that would sideline him for five weeks.

A narrow but well-deserved win against Borussia Mönchengladbach was followed by another setback in the league. Against newly-promoted SC Paderborn, BVB let slip a 2-0 half-time lead (goals by Aubameyang and Reus) to draw 2-2. It was annoying when a Grosskreutz goal was incorrectly disallowed, and there was drama when Reus suffered an injury to his right ankle that ruled the 25-year-old out until January.

In the Bundesliga game away at Frankfurt the team created scoring chances 79 to 84 of the season, but still lost 2-0. Grosskreutz hit the post, and Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang and Kehl were denied by the brilliant Eintracht keeper Wiedwald. For the first time in 29 years, not counting the first two league matches of the season, BVB found themselves propping up the foot of the table. “And now they're even losing in Europe”, ran the headline in the Bild newspaper following their 2-0 defeat to Arsenal. This can only be regarded as recognition of the fact that at international level this is the team's first slip-up after four consecutive victories.