Borussia's junior teams face a tough task this weekend: the U19s are away to FC Viktoria Cologne on Saturday, while the U17s are up against Arminia Bielefeld.

The Borussia Dortmund U19s are next up against FC Viktoria Cologne, who are coached by former BVB defender Jürgen Kohler. The newly promoted outfit recorded a surprise 1-0 victory over Schalke last time out. Ahead of what will be a fixture-filled period for his charges, who face Viktoria Cologne, FC Barcelona (Tuesday at 16:00) and then Bayer Leverkusen next weekend, coach Michael Skibbe has a number of personnel concerns to contend with: Niclas Knoop remains unavailable, while Giovanni Reyna returned from international duty with the USA prematurely due to a strained ligament in his foot and Alaa Bakir has a cold. There is hope, however, that Immanuel Pherai could make a return. "We're going to Cologne to win this match," said a confident Michael Skibbe this week.

Meanwhile, the U17s will welcome third-placed Arminia Bielefeld to Brackel for the top match of Bundesliga Matchday 6 on Saturday morning (kick-off 11:00 CET). Coach Sebastian Geppert, whose squad has been down to the bare bones for much of the past fortnight with various players away on international duty, now has almost a full contingent at his disposal once again. (wiwi)

Detailed reports on the youth websites...