"The BVB feeling is back again!"

Greeted a year ago by a mixture of applause and whistles, the team of the Bundesliga league leaders − with coach Lucien Favre at the helm − was met with a standing ovation lasting a minute and 47 seconds in 2018. "We're delighted with the fact that we've managed, in such a short time, to form a team that has captured the hearts of all Black & Yellows again," said Rauball. There had earlier been lengthy applause for the women's handball team too. Treasurer Dr. Reinhold Lunow said: "The BVB feeling is back again. We need to make sure that it doesn't get lost."

In a speech repeatedly interrupted by rounds of applause, Hans-Joachim Watzke went "quickly through the numbers". The 2017/2018 financial year has seen BVB achieve the highest turnover − €539 million − in the club's history; an operating result of €126 million; an annual net profit of "around 28.5 million, no financial liabilities and a bank balance of 59.5 million". Over the current decade, BVB have achieved a cumulative profit in the region of €167.7 million. The chief executive officer went on to laud the players who are currently not playing or not even making the squad, saying: "They're making us so strong because they're dramatically raising the level." He then wished Paco Alcácer – himself the subject of an ovation – "a warm welcome to Borussia Dortmund" and issued a warning to the first team: "We need to keep going and can't allow ourselves to drop even two percent!"

As for the "phantom discussion" concerning a "Super League", Watzke said: "The Bundesliga is a piece of German cultural heritage. It's not by chance that it came into being in Dortmund in 1962 and it's a part of BVB's DNA."

Treasurer Dr. Reinold Lunow presented the accounts of the registered association (e.V.). Turnover is at the prior-year level of €9 million, while profit amounted to €1.139 million. The difference to the prior year (€1.946 million) is down to the increase in personnel costs and other operating expenses.

The 1,119 club members eligible to vote and in attendance − there are 155,244 club members in total − unanimously approved the actions of the executive board and re-elected the following four members to the Economic Council: Martin Eul (Dortmunder Volksbank chief executive officer), Dr. Winfried Materna (Materna GmbH associate), Michele Puller (S&K Kapital AG) and Dr. Thomas Steg (chief representative of Volkswagen AG). The following board members were also elected to the eight-person body: Ute Wolf (Evonik Industries AG chief financial officer), Christian Lindner (FDP federal board), mayor Ullrich Sierau and Reinhold Schulte (Signal Iduna Group supervisory board member). The auditors are Marco Blumberg and the newly-elected Günter Kutowski.

Rauball explicitly thanked all voluntary workers and "all the fans, who account for a large part of the face and the feeling of Borussia Dortmund. Our fans are envied all across your Europe for the way they represent our club and stand by it, in good times and bad."

Fritz Lünschermann, who has been active in various functions at the club for decades, was unanimously elected as an honorary member at the AGM. "He has rendered so many services to BVB, in particular the supervision of the Council of Seniors, that he deserves this recognition," Rauball said.
Boris Rupert