The Federal Republic of Germany and Borussia Dortmund have lost a great politician and a passionate supporter respectively: Thomas Oppermann, the Vice-President of the Bundestag, has died unexpectedly at the age of 66.

Oppermann was Chairman of the SPD faction in the German Bundestag from 2013 to 2017, and had been its Vice-President since October 2017. The politician, who hails from Göttingen, had been a member of the Bundestag since 2005, and caused great amusement in several debates by openly showing his support for Borussia Dortmund. One notable occasion came on 27 April 2017, his 63rd birthday, when he said his "greatest gift was not that I'm allowed to speak after Mrs. Merkel, but that Borussia Dortmund won a great game against Bayern Munich 3-2 last night". When Norbert Lammert, then President of the Parliament, remarked that "I am not going to bring about a vote on this in the Bundestag now", Oppermann replied: "A vote wouldn't be able to change yesterday's result anyway."

In addition, Oppermann had been Chairman of the Ethics Committee of the German Football Association since 2019. He leaves behind two daughters from a previous marriage, plus a daughter and a son from his current partnership. Borussia Dortmund's thoughts are with his relatives.