Borussia Dortmund will contest nine fixtures in October – across all three competitions. The highlights this month include the Bundesliga match against Bayern Munich and the cup tie away to Hannover 96. In the UEFA Champions League, BVB face a double-header against Sevilla and the return fixture against Manchester City, as they bid to reach the round of 16.

Saturday 1 October (15:30 CET): 1. FC Cologne vs. BVB
The busy spell begins with an away game against 1. FC Cologne. For two BVB players – Salih Özcan and Anthony Modeste – it represents a return to the club they left this summer to move to the Ruhr. The Billy Goats currently occupy ninth place in the table. "Steffen Baumgart has stabilised the team. He repeatedly manages to make players better and create a greater self-belief. That's their biggest strength," said BVB coach Edin Terzic of the opposition. The pre-match report.

Wednesday 5 October (21:00 CET): Sevilla vs. BVB
BVB have played their first matches of the UEFA Champions League campaign – against Copenhagen (3-0 win) and Manchester City (2-1 loss) – and are now preparing for their double-header with Sevilla. The Black & Yellows are off to Spain first. With six titles, the club are the UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League record-holders. However, the Andalusians qualified for this edition of the UEFA Champions League by finishing fourth in their domestic league. "Emotional stadium, a very emotional group with an emotional coach," said sporting director Sebastian Kehl. And with a former Dortmund player marshalling the defence: Thomas Delaney.

Saturday 8 October (18:30 CET): BVB vs. Bayern Munich
The Matchday 9 game of the round takes place in Dortmund, with BVB hosting Bayern Munich. Dortmund's last win in this fixture came in the 2019 Supercup (2-0), while the last league victory against the men from Munich came back in 2018 (3-2). The German champions sit in fifth position – three places and three points behind the Black & Yellows – prior to the current round of fixtures.

Tuesday 11 October (21:00 CET): BVB vs. Sevilla
The return fixture against Sevilla at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK will take place six days after the first meeting. The two teams went head-to-head in the Champions League last 16 in 2020/21. BVB won the first leg in Sevilla 3-2 a year and a half ago, before drawing the second leg 2-2 to go through – with no fans at either game. Their meeting in the 2010/11 Europa League was even more hard-fought: Marcel Schmelzer was sent off in the 1-0 loss in Dortmund, with the Spanish resorting to time-wasting in the return leg (2-2).

Sunday 16 October (17:30 CET): Union Berlin vs. BVB
A visit to the current league leaders. With seven rounds of matches played, the Köpenick club top the table with a two-point lead over BVB. It will be another top match – though this one takes place on a Sunday, with Union in UEFA Europa League action on the Thursday beforehand. 

Wednesday 19 October (18:00 CET): Hannover 96 vs. BVB 
The third competition of the month: a place in the last 16 of the DFB-Pokal will be up for grabs against second-tier Hannover 96. BVB came through the first round at the end of July by winning 3-0 at TSV 1860 Munich, while Hannover also ran out 3-0 victors against TSV Schott Mainz. This will be the sixth DFB-Pokal clash between the teams: Hannover 96 won the first four cup ties, before Borussia came out on top in their last meeting in the competition. That was in December 2012, when BVB hosted the side from Lower Saxony in the last 16 and surged to a 5-1 (3-0) win with goals from Götze (3), Blaszczykowski and Lewandowski. 

Saturday 22 October (15:30 CET): BVB vs. VfB Stuttgart
Borussia Dortmund's last English week of the month will begin with a trip to VfB Stuttgart. The Black & Yellows won both meetings with the Swabians last season – by a 2-1 scoreline in the first fixture at home, and 2-0 in the return fixture in Stuttgart. Julian Brandt scored both goals. 

Tuesday 25 October (21:00): BVB vs. Manchester City
The group stages of the UEFA Champions League are entering the home straight. Manchester City will be the visitors to Dortmund in the penultimate group game. BVB took the lead in the first meeting in September, but their battling performance was to no avail as the English champions fought back with two late goals to seal a 2-1 victory. BVB will then travel to Copenhagen a week later in their final match of the group stages. 

Saturday 29 October (18:30 CET): Eintracht Frankfurt vs. BVB
Borussia Dortmund will take on Eintracht Frankfurt in the top match slot. The Black & Yellows also won both meetings against the side from Hesse last season: a 5-2 thriller at home on the opening day of the season and a 3-2 away victory to kick off the second half of the campaign. Frankfurt, who would go on to win the Europa League, were 2-0 up in that fixture. But Hazard scored to pull it back to 2-1, before Bellingham levelled in the 87th minute and Dahoud grabbed the winning goal in the 89th minute.
Christina Reinke