Nico Schlotterbeck

Nico Schlotterbeck has been with Borussia Dortmund since 2022. “I deliberately chose to take this step – for the club, the team and the fans – because I'm a player who needs the fans. The Bundesliga has the best fans in the world. And in Dortmund there are more than 80,000 fans in the stands. That’s a massive amount.” The resolute defender immediately slotted into the central defence for the Black & Yellows, impressing not only with his strength in duels (winning an impressive 66 percent in 2023/24), but also his qualities in the build-up play. Schlotterbeck is regularly on the ball (on average 106 times per 90 minutes in 2024/25), and can pick out strong lofted and diagonal passes. He is also a real threat from set pieces. For free kicks, he often lurks at the far post, either to get a header on goal or to play it back across the goal for his teammates. In early April 2025, he suffered a meniscus tear in his left knee and therefore missed the FIFA Club World Cup.

The Waiblingen native comes from a family of footballers. "I used to play tennis too – and I was really talented, but at some point, I had to choose between football and tennis. For me, it was a very easy decision." His uncle Niels played for several clubs in the Bundesliga in the 1980s and 1990s (Stuttgarter Kickers, MSV Duisburg, Hansa Rostock), and Nico played alongside his older brother Keven, who is 18 months older, during his time in Freiburg.

From the age of eight to 15, Nico played for the Stuttgarter Kickers, but was not accepted into the U16 team. Instead, Schlotterbeck took a step back, played for VfR Aalen for a year, then joined Karlsruher SC, where he played in the U17 and U19 Bundesliga. In the summer of 2017, he moved to SC Freiburg. There, he first played in the U19s and then celebrated his senior Bundesliga debut on 9 March 2019 in a 2-1 home win against Hertha Berlin.

Nico Schlotterbeck has been playing for the German national team since his debut on 26.03.2022. At the 2022 World Cup, he played the full match in the first group match (a 2-1 loss against Japan). He played twice at Euro 2024 in Germany, including the full 90 minutes in the Round of 16 match in Dortmund against Denmark.