The 1000th home game in the most beautiful stadium in the world

On 17 February, there was a very special game for Black and Yellows. The UEFA Europa League play-off first leg against Glasgow Rangers was the 1000th home game at the Westfalenstadion / SIGNAL IDUNA PARK.

Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, only 10,000 BVB fans were allowed to attend the anniversary match in the most beautiful stadium in the world on that evening in February. Everything was arranged around the game. There were numerous special guests in attendance before kick-off for a 90-minute BVB TV live show, in which they chatted about special moments and anecdotes from the previous 999 games at BVB's hallowed home ground. Memorabilia was distributed around the stadium and the team came out in jerseys with special flocking. Unfortunately, the Black and Yellows did not do justice to the festive setting on the pitch. The 4-2 defeat meant that they missed the chance to celebrate the anniversary in style. After a 2-2 draw in Scotland a week later, BVB were eliminated surprisingly early, only for the supposed underdogs Rangers to make it all the way to the final.

You can find a detailed article about historical moments, the development and the history of our home ground here.

U19s cause a stir in the UEFA Youth League

In contrast to their role models in the first team, the Borussia Dortmund U19s' unstoppable march saw them battling it out against Europe's elite all the way into the latter stages of the UEFA Youth League. After finishing second behind Sporting Lisbon in the group stage, they beat Empoli 5-3 in the play-offs to move into the last 16. There, they faced a really tough task in the form of the highly touted joint favourites Manchester United on 1 March. After a hard-fought 90 minutes at the Leigh Sports Village Stadium, the score was 2-2. The outstanding Jamie Bynoe Gittens scored twice for the Black and Yellows. In the subsequent penalty shoot-out, BVB keeper Silas Ostrzinski made two strong saves before match winner Bynoe-Gittens fired home the decisive penalty. 

For the first time, the Black Yellow had made it into the quarter-finals of the UEFA Youth League. They would go no further, however, after a narrow 1-0 defeat against Atletico Madrid at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK. It wasn't quite the fairy-tale ending their run had deserved, but it was certainly a special experience, playing a youth match in front of 19,300 fans on a Wednesday afternoon. 

Their crowning glory did, however, follow a little later, albeit "only" at national level: in late May, Mike Tullberg's team secured their ninth German U19s championship in Berlin.

The wait is finally over: a home game in front of a sold-out SIGNAL IDUNA PARK

After 763 long days, SIGNAL IDUNA PARK was finally back to the way we know and love it for the match against Leipzig: "Soooooooold out" with 81,365 fans. The South Stand was finally full again! Finally, everyone was back in their familiar seats, meeting up with friends and acquaintances again at the most beautiful place in the (footballing) world. That had not been the case since 29 February 2020. The atmosphere was great and the yearning for this moment was felt by everyone in Black and Yellow inside the stadium.

As a thank you for their loyalty over what had been almost 25 months of hardship due to Covid-19, the names of all 987 official BVB fan clubs as at that date were woven into a special jersey that the team wore against Leipzig. Unfortunately, the euphoria of the fans wasn't transferred to the team that evening, as Borussia lost the game 4-1 in the end. Nevertheless, 2 April 2022 will remain a special day in the hearts of the Black and Yellow faithful.