Since joining Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2021, Gregor Kobel has become one of the top performers at the club. Now our number 1 has extended his contract until 2028.

"Kobel ensured the victory" (after a home win against Cologne), "Thanks to Kobel, we are one round further" (after an away win in Hanover) and "Kobel stops seven shots" (after an away win in Leverkusen) – there are plenty of headlines like this to be found on bvb.de. They show the key role Kobel has played between the sticks for Borussia Dortmund. 

The Swiss shot-stopper moved to the Ruhr area in the summer of 2021. Dortmund became already his fourth club in Germany, after leaving his homeland at the age of 16: from 2015 to 2018, he played for TSG Hoffenheim, then for FC Augsburg for six months before spending two years at VfB Stuttgart from 2019, including winning promotion to the Bundesliga in his first season. 

In May 2021, he then signed for BVB, who described him in the press release as a "communicative, vocal leader" with "good performances both on the line and in terms of his control of the penalty area and passing game". These are all attributes that Kobel has also demonstrated time and time again in his more than two years in Dortmund. "It makes me proud to be able to play for BVB. I would like to play my part in the future success of Dortmund," Kobel said when he signed his first contract. After a year in Black and Yellow, looking back on the transfer, he said: "I'm really happy that I'm here. It is a lot of fun to be here in Dortmund with the ambitions that come with being at Borussia Dortmund: the goal of winning every game and getting as many points as possible." 

Kobel was responsible for many of those points thanks to his brilliant shot-stopping. "Flying through the air is so much fun. That's the best thing about my job – something quite different than making yourself big three metres in front of a striker and taking the hit," the goalkeeper said in an interview with BVB members' magazine Borussia. "That's cool, but it doesn't come close to the feeling you get when you see a long ball and you're going to reach it because your steps are just right and you get the timing of the jump right too." 

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A safe pair of hands, he was named the best goalkeeper in the Bundesliga by the magazine kicker in both the winter of 2022/23 and the summer of 2023. His fellow professionals in the players' union VDV also voted him into the team of the season in 2022/23. "The experts can all agree on one thing: without Kobel in the BVB goal, they probably would not have had a chance of winning the title heading into the final matchday of the season," wrote sportschau.de. "In particular Kobel's reflexes on the line and his strong presence in one-on-one situations have already ruined many an opposing striker's day." Kobel saved an impressive 74 percent of the shots he faced in 2022/23. He kept a clean sheet in 11 of his 26 season games in the past Bundesliga season.

The 25-year-old has also consistently climbed through the ranks in the Black and Yellows hierarchy thanks to his performances on and off the pitch. "I want to help the team and take on responsibility," he said during the first team's US tour this summer. The next day, he was appointed vice captain, deputy of new captain Emre Can. The goalkeeper has now captained the side several times on the pitch when Can was not in the starting eleven. 

And this season, Kobel has picked up right where he left off last time out. According to kicker, he is currently the best-rated BVB player. Our number one has played in 84 games for BVB to date. There will be many more to come, and plenty of opportunities for him to continue to show exactly what he can do.
Christina Reinke