Borussia Dortmund return to the global stage in search of silverware, fuelled by a strong finish to the season, a revamped squad, and fresh belief under Niko Kovač. After years of near-misses, could this be the start of something bigger?
1) Who will Borussia Dortmund face at the Club World Cup?
Borussia Dortmund have been drawn into Group F and these are their group stage fixtures:
17 June: vs Fluminense. MetLife Stadium, New Jersey.
21 June: vs Mamelodi Sundowns. TQL Stadium, Cincinnati.
25 June: vs Ulsan Hyundai. TQL Stadium, Cincinnati.
2) Bundesliga triumphs
Borussia Dortmund are eight times Bundesliga champions, meaning only Bayern Munich and Nürnberg have captured the Meisterschale on more occasions.
3) Champions League success
Die Schwarzgelben are also one of just three German clubs to be crowned champions of Europe, alongside Bayern and HSV. They won the Champions League at Olympiapark München back in 1997, defeating Juventus 3-1.
4) Chasing past glories
Despite having 22 major honours to their name, very few of these have come in the past 13 years. In 2011 and 2012, Borussia Dortmund won back-to-back Bundesliga titles under Jürgen Klopp, but they've subsequently never been able to rediscover those former glories.
Since then, they've been Bundesliga runners-up on seven occasions and been beaten in two Champions League Finals, defeated by Bayern Munich in 2013 and Real Madrid a year ago, both times at Wembley. Die Schwarzgelben did hoist aloft the DFB-Pokal in both 2017 and 2021, as well as the DFL-Supercup in 2019, but the biggest honours have continued to remain illusive, currently without any silverware for four years, since the days of Erling Braut Håland, Jadon Sancho and Jude Bellingham.
5) A season of two halves
Despite not having won a league title since 2012, Dortmund's recent league finishes are very consistent, qualifying for the Champions League in 13 of the last 14 seasons. Well, this campaign looked set to be different, considering they sacked rookie manager Nuri Şahin in January, after only 27 matches in charge. Then, following a 2-0 defeat at RB Leipzig on 15 March, they were 11th in the table, having lost 11 Bundesliga matches in a single season for the first time in a decade.
Seemingly on course to miss out on European qualification all together, Dortmund won seven of their final eight matches of the campaign, the other a respectable 2-2 draw on the road against Bayern Munich, sneaking into fourth place, courtesy of a 3-0 victory over Holstein Kiel at Westfalenstadion on the final day. Thus, few will come into the Club World Cup in more scintillating form.
6) Past Club World Cup expirence
Borussia Dortmund are set to make their debut at the FIFA Club World Cup. However, they did feature in the competition's precursor the Intercontinental Cup, defeating Cruzeiro 2-0 in Tokyo in 1997.
7) Borussia Dortmund players to watch: Serhou Guirassy
This was Serhou Guirassy's debut campaign at Dortmund and he certainly made an impression.
The Guinean scored 34 goals across all competitions, thereby averaging a goal every 112 minutes. In the Bundesliga, only Harry Kane managed more than his 21 goals, most-notably bagging four against Union Berlin in February, concluding the campaign with six goals in five appearances.
Meantime, his tally of 13 Champions League goals earned Guirassy the competition's golden boot, only the third African player to achieve this, after Rabah Madjer in 1988 and George Weah in 1995. The highlight of Guirassy's European exploits was a hat-trick against Barcelona in the quarter-finals.
8) Borussia Dortmund players to watch: Waldemar Anton
Dortmund actually signed two players from Stuttgart last summer, and what a double-deal this proved to be, considering Waldemar Anton was the other player involved. The 28 year old German international made 37 appearances this season, starting each of Dortmund's last 11 matches to conclude the campaign, and will continue to be key at the heart of their back three.
9) Manager Niko Kovač: the start of something special?
As outlined already, Borussia Dortmund enjoyed a late season resurgence, and a lot of the credit for this goes to manager Niko Kovač. The former Frankfurt, Bayern Munich, Monaco and Wolfsburg boss was very much viewed as a stop-gap when he was appointed in February on a short-term deal. Well, having transformed this team, changing their formation and changing their fortunes too, there is optimism that Kovač could bring the glory days back to North Rhine-Westphalia.
10) Could Dortmund go all the way?
Die Schwarzgelben find themselves in Group F, facing Fluminense in East Rutherford, before taking on both Mamelodi Sundowns and Ulsan Hyundai 637 miles west in Cincinnati.
Dortmund are certainly firm favourites to top the section, potentially poised to make a deep run, albeit, if all goes as forecast, they could be on course for a quarter-final clash with Real Madrid.