Gregor Kobel

Gregor Kobel came to Dortmund from Stuttgart in the summer of 2021 and has since been the undisputed number one in the BVB goal, as well as vice-captain. “I felt very comfortable here very quickly and realised that we fit together really well.” In November 2023, his contract was extended prematurely and runs until 2028. “I'm an emotional guy, Dortmund is an insanely emotional city when it comes to football, and Signal Iduna Park is an incredibly emotional stadium. It’s a crazy feeling to get to play in this stadium time and again. That's a huge privilege, and motivates me time and again.”

In the 2023/24 season, Kobel saved an impressive 73 percent of the shots on his goal. His goalkeeper efficiency (+9.4 expected goals prevented) was even the best of all Bundesliga keepers. This means that with an "average goalkeeper", BVB would have conceded over nine more goals in that year. The 1.96 metre goalkeeper has excellent command of the penalty area and is highly responsive on the line – the type of goalkeeper who keeps getting on the end of an almost unstoppable shot to win his team matches, as he did on Matchday 33 last season, in the 4-2 away win in Leverkusen – a milestone in the race for a Champions League place for his team.

The son of a former top-tier professional ice hockey player, Kobel was born in Zurich on St Nicholas Day 1997 and was in the Grasshopper Club academy. In 2014, he moved to the youth development department of TSG Hoffenheim as a sixteen-year-old. Already on 29 May 2016, there was talk for the first time of this talented young goalkeeper, who was frustrating the attackers of Borussia Dortmund's U19s in the final of the German U19 Championship. In the end, the final score was 5-3 because BVB have an even more prominent player in its ranks in Felix Passlack than TSG had in Gregor Kobel, who was 18 years young at the time.

After his first appearances with the first team under coach Julian Nagelsmann (usually in the DFB-Pokal), the deputy of regular goalkeeper Oliver Baumann was loaned to FC Augsburg in January 2019, where he played 16 of 17 possible games in the second half of the season. In the summer of 2019, he moved to VfB Stuttgart. He played a major role in ensuring that Stuttgart, who had been newly promoted to the Bundesliga at the time, were comfortably clear of relegation in the 2020/21 season, shining thanks to a string of spectacular saves. 

Since making his debut for the U15s on 20.03.2012, Gregor Kobel has made his way through the ranks of all youth teams of the Swiss Football Association and celebrated his senior debut on 1 September 2021. As Switzerland’s second choice keeper, he was part of the Swiss team at the 2022 World Cup (playing in a 3-2 win against Serbia) and Euro 2024.