You're all Dortmund boys!

However, the excellent footballing education they get at BVB enables them to carve out a career for themselves as an amateur or a professional player. There are currently 97 former academy products playing in the first three tiers in Germany or in top flights overseas.

Marco Reus is one of five current BVB players who came through the Black & Yellow youth ranks. The other four are Mario Götze – the man who scored the winning goal for Germany in the 2014 World Cup final – Marcel Schmelzer, Jacob Bruun Larsen and Christian Pulisic, although the Dane and the American did not come to Dortmund until they were 16. Pulisic will soon fulfil a lifelong dream of playing in the Premier League, having already agreed a summer switch to England for €64 million. It's a prime example of how successful, and economically profitable, the youth development work at Borussia Dortmund is.

In addition to the five aforementioned first-teamers, there are currently 92 former BVB youth players plying their trade as professional footballers at other clubs. Some of them were prodigious talents who left the club before making their big breakthrough but are now playing at the highest level. Examples include Antonio Rüdiger, who plays for Chelsea in the Premier League, and Koray Günter at Genoa in Serie A. Former U17 central defender Felix Bastians is over in China, having settled in Asia following a number of stops in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. And let's not forget some of the other famous names on the list like Marcel Halstenberg of Leipzig, who played for the U23s for two years and is now a senior international, or Nuri Sahin, who spent many years lacing his boots for the Black & Yellows before completing a switch to Werder Bremen, where many of the younger players now benefit from his wealth of experience.

92 names, 92 stories

We visited some of the lads and spoke on the phone with others. But whoever and wherever they are, they all had fond memories of Borussia Dortmund and words of praise for the coaches and officials at both youth and senior level. "The training I had at BVB helps me in every situation. Throughout my eight and a half years there, it was always top," says Amos Pieper, who joined Borussia Dortmund as a 12-year-old in the summer of 2010. Now 21, the youngster has been playing for Arminia Bielefeld in the second division for several months. At the time of writing, he has made four appearances and played his first full 90 minutes in a 2-2 stalemate with Greuther Fürth at the end of March. "In youth football," says Pieper, "you have to prove yourself against one or two year groups. Then that age range suddenly expands to 18-35. The competition is much greater. Even in the Regionalliga, they play real men's football. I don't want to say that it's an enormous leap, but it is an enormous change."

They are all living their dream of being professional footballers, of playing in the Bundesliga or the Champions League. The extraordinary '98 year group, of which Pieper is a member, won four consecutive German Championship titles under coach Hannes Wolf from 2014 to 2017. For Pieper, who was part of three title-winning squads, the highlight was the U19 final against Bayern Munich on 22 May 2017 in front of 33,450 fans at Signal Iduna Park. The defender converted the 18th spot-kick to secure an 8-7 win in the penalty shootout. He describes it as an "indescribable feeling, at such a young age and in front of so many spectators and the Yellow Wall – I'll never forget it as long as I live".

"You develop a winning mentality and personality there"

"Those are the games that can be of huge benefit to the lads," explains Borussia Dortmund's Youth Coordinator Lars Ricken, under whose leadership the club has been the standard-setter at youth level, winning five German Championships at U17 or U19 level between 2014 and 2018. "You develop a winning mentality, you develop character," he says. "A Champions League club can't simply integrate 18 such successful youth players into its own first team," acknowledges the 21-year-old Pieper. "I was always a realist and I'm happy that Arminia Bielefeld are giving me the chance to mature in the German second division, where the quality is extraordinarily high."

"We're not exclusively interested in the two or three biggest talents in each year group; we want every player to become the best he can be. It can't always be in the Bundesliga," says Youth Coordinator Lars Ricken of the developmental philosophy at the club. "We develop good teams so that the most talented youngsters are not under-challenged in their year groups and so that, in an ideal scenario, these teams are competing for the German Championship."

Ahead of the coming season, 19-year-old midfielder Tobias Raschl and 18-year-old goalkeeper Luca Unbehaun will be promoted to the senior squad. Ricken sees that as "proof of the high degree of internal promotion at BVB", adding: "The development of those two players shows that we don't only put our feelers out overseas but that we also have a significant interest in promoting our own players to the senior squad." Not all of them, however, can make it at the club and they instead find themselves another place in professional football. Janni Serra, for example, is now playing for Holstein Kiel in the second division.

There are currently 92 players who came through the ranks at Borussia Dortmund plying their trade in the first three divisions in Germany or top flights overseas. The number is "fantastic," says Ricken. Three of them are currently at St. Pauli together. Marc Hornschuh, 28, Jeremy Dudziak, 23, and Christopher Buchtmann, 26, are all a step ahead of Pieper in their development and are established players at a top club in the second tier.

"Go out there. Warm up. Go for it."

Those are the three key words that accompany the St. Pauli players onto the training pitch. The spectators at training can get a small coffee from Biggi for €1 and a plain sausage for €1.20. Plus another €0.30 if they want toast. It's a modest environment at the Millerntor. And the Dortmund contingent at the promotion-challenging club have remained modest too. Hornschuh was the captain of the Dortmund team that lost the 2008 B-Youth final 6-4 to TSG Hoffenheim, playing alongside Daniel Ginczek and Mario Götze. While Buchtmann has played over 150 times for the second-tier club and is a regular fixure in their starting line-up, first-teamer Hornschuh is fighting to make his comeback following a long-lasting injury (slipped disc). He last played in the second division on 16 September 2017. But he's slowly getting there. In January, he finally returned to action in a friendly. "I'm battling my way back and I'm now in full team training."

What about Jeremy Dudziak? The 23-year-old, who was at BVB from 2009 to December 2013, will be playing under Hannes Wolf, his former U17 boss (2011/12 season) next term. "He's coming to me, to Hamburg. I'm delighted," says Dudziak, who has agreed to join HSV. Wolf is the proof that Borussia Dortmund produces not only good footballers, but some outstanding coaches too. David Wagner, Daniel Farke and Jan Siewert all trained the U23s before moving to England, while Hannes Wolf initially took charge of the U17s before leading the U19s to three consecutive German Championship titles between 2014 and 2016. Then, in the 2016/17 campaign, he was handed the reins at VfB Stuttgart, who were looking to return to the top flight. He will now have the same remit at Hamburg. Should he manage it at the first time of asking, the 38-year-old former BVB youth boss would have steered two tradition-steeped clubs back to the Bundesliga in the space of two years.

"Borussia Dortmund is a wonderful club when it comes to youth development."

Hannes Wolf has fond memories of his time at BVB, where he encountered "lively, challenging tasks, great lads and great characters". He told us: "Borussia Dortmund is a wonderful club when it comes to youth development. I was there for more than seven years. It was a wonderful time developing the players, seeing them grow and then making it either at BVB or elsewhere." He cites Daniel Ginczek and Antonio Rüdiger – "two from the absolute top drawer" – as prime examples. Ginczek, now 28 and at VfL Wolfsburg, was a BVB youth player from 2006 to 2011. He now has 85 Bundesliga appearances and 25 goals under his belt. Meanwhile, Rüdiger, 26, wore Black & Yellow between 2008 and 2011. He is now a senior Germany international and plays for Chelsea in England.

Nineteen of the 92 former BVB youth players have remained in their home region and are currently playing for a club in North Rhine-Westphalia, while 36 are earning their living overseas. Julian Koch, for example, is at Ferencvaros in Budapest, while Eric Durm and Jon Gorenc Stankovič play under ex-youth coach Jan Siewert at Huddersfield. Over at Norwich City, the former Dortmund contingent comprises of four people: Felix Passlack, Marco Stiepermann, Christopher Zimmermann and Mario Vrančić.

Marc Kruska, meanwhile, has made his way to Dudelange. "I have to say honestly that I didn't know any other club in Luxembourg beforehand," says the midfielder, who made 98 Bundesliga appearances in the Black & Yellow of Dortmund between 2004 and 2008. F91 Dudelange made the headlines this summer by reaching the UEFA Europa League group stages, beating the likes of Legia Warsaw in the qualifying rounds. Once in the competition proper, they narrowly went down 1-0 to AC Milan and earned a respectable point in a 0-0 draw away to Real Betis. Now in the latter stages of his career, Kruska, who soon turns 32, wants to round off "what's been a super year with a league and cup double. I might then make the decision to stop." Kruska, who currently lives near Trier and car-pools with five other German players in the squad, wants to return home so that "I can finally be closer to my son again".

"It was a formative time, a great time"

Economically turbulent times made it easier and quicker for talented youngsters like Kruska to gain promotion to the senior squad. He made his first Bundesliga appearance in November 2004, starting the 1-0 defeat away to 1. FC Kaiserslautern on the bench before finishing the game alongside Sebastian Kehl in defensive midfield. He scored his first top-flight goal on the final matchday of that turbulent season – in a 2-1 victory against Hansa Rostock. Thanks to that goal, he still sits in ninth place on the list of all-time youngest goalscorers (17 years, 10 months and 22 days).

"It was a formative time, a great time," said Kruska, casting his mind back. He has since made over 440 appearances in the top three divisions and believes his excellent education at Borussia Dortmund played a big part. He still remains in contact with former coaches and staff that he encountered at youth level at BVB. "Football is somehow a big family," he says.

For Kevin Großkreutz, the South Stand is still a second home. "My grandmother used to be in the South Stand, no joke. My father, my aunt too." The young Großkreutz first went aged four. But his seat remains empty for the moment while he plays for Uerdingen in Aalen. But he's remained a "Dortmund boy" and, like so many others, BVB remain close to his heart. It tells you all you need to know about the youth development at Borussia Dortmund.

Author: Boris Rupert