Open fan letter from the Südtribüne Dortmund to the BVB management – do you support the criticism?
Borussia Dortmund qualified for the Champions League after all thanks to a strong final spurt and thus saved a botched season. Despite the conciliatory finish, the fans are now calling for a critical review of the season.
In an open letter dated 20 May 2025, the Südtribüne Dortmund addressed the BVB management with clear, critical words!
The open fan letter from the Südtribüne Dortmund in full:
At the end of a strong final spurt in the league, the Black & Yellows managed to secure their participation in the premier class, which is important from a sporting and economic perspective, with a 3:0 home win against Holstein Kiel.
Although we have deliberately kept a low profile in recent months so as not to add to the unrest surrounding BVB, the past season was still no cause for celebration, as new coach Kovac aptly put it on Saturday. In a year in which one setback followed the next, our team found itself in eleventh place in the table before the 27th matchday, which was fully deserved and in line with our performance – something that can neither meet the demands here nor the resources invested. The fact that we qualified for the Champions League once again should not change this assessment.
More serious than the inconsistent performances on the pitch, however, was the way in which our club and, above all, its managers have presented themselves in the recent past. This included not only the power games behind the scenes, which once again came to the surface in the form of indiscretions to the press, the unworthy dismissal of coach Sahin in the Bologna dressing room or the repeatedly embarrassing statements by ‘external advisor’ Matthias Sammer on TV. The opaque decision-making processes within the sporting management also gave the impression that responsibilities are only shifted from A to B in an emergency so that nothing can be held against you. All in all, all these aspects created the image of a club with no strategy that always tries to rectify the same mistakes using the same old methods – and has been going round in circles for years.
In the summer, the people in charge must urgently ask themselves what Borussia Dortmund should stand for: on the pitch and beyond. It is undisputed that clubs must be economically active in order to survive and remain competitive in the context of professional football. However, if BVB's unique identity and identification with it are to be preserved in equal measure, this must be done within clear guidelines and in accordance with our own club culture. The questionable pioneering role in the DFL's investor plans and the nerve-wracking discussions surrounding the Rheinmetall sponsorship, including the public discrediting of the general meeting, have recently caused the club's own profile outside of sport to fade just as much as the One Piece co-operation, the sale of tatty wrestling belts or the umpteenth neon yellow special jersey in memory of days long gone.
In view of the growing competition in the Bundesliga, our club is now at a crossroads. After twenty largely successful years, Hans-Joachim Watzke will soon be leaving the BVB management. It is therefore important to scrutinise the usual patterns of action now – because the departure of such a formative figure also offers the opportunity for a genuine new beginning, far removed from the backward-looking approach that is particularly prevalent in sport. However, this requires clear structures and a vision of what Borussia Dortmund wants to represent in the future.
We fans can play a decisive role in this when it comes to throwing our full weight behind a ‘business as usual’ approach.
by DoppeltGrossartig
19 Comments
Ye it’s well written
The only problem with the sacking of Sahin was that it took so long.
Is the One Piece part meant as criticism?
Im sure I get downvoted for this but I will say it anyways: the One Piece co-op was super cool to me and is by far way better than taking money from Rheinmetal. Some words are true but other words are just truely pseudo elitism among fans.
I only disagre with the One Piece collab. That was fine, they could have done even more with it, sell more merch because that would have been a money printing machine for the club and a lot of bvb fans that love anime would have bought stuff
I would sign this letter. It’s on point
I agree with most of it, except for the comments on merch, coops (excluding the Rheinmetall sponsorship) and special jerseys. Sure, they might not cater to everyone’s taste, but they will always reach some. I like that modern clubs think beyond the basic and overcome stereotypes like “Football fans drink alcohol (beer stuff), like BBQ, smoke (ashtrays) and… maybe want to drink coffe from a BVB Melitta machine?” I think it’s great that they try things and if it’s for you: AWESOME! If not: Shut up and let others enjoy what they like and how they like it.
this should be shared everywhere
Agreed on everything besides the One Piece collab.
I had the fear that the bosses would come to the season review with check list in which case we hitted most of them (made top 4, advanced further in CL and all the signings except Couto turned out great). Therefore nothing will change.
You can’t simply look at brute facts without interpreting them. The last 5 years we have seen a downfall of Dortmund, dispite nearly winning two titles. We’re no longer the undisputed second best team in the league and in the last two seasons we could have a single moment to feel that we’re not in a crisis.
I generally agree, but they want a forward looking leadership, meanwhile oppose every marketing strategy….
Link to the original, please!
The one thing I would agree with is that we need a more coherent identity and less drama behind the scenes. The back and forth with the scouting team and all the goddamn internal power struggles made us a laughing stock. Everybody concerned with their own careers and enemies and nobody concerned with doing what’s best for the club. Some major bullshit right there. I don’t even know who the fuck does what. We created what feels like 50 positions for every former something somewhere to do something and yet nothing gets fucking done.
Too many people in vague positions talking too much nonsense. You shouldn’t even hear from anyone except the coach and the manager. Everybody else, do your job and shut the fuck up. Don’t talk to the media. Watzke was so fucking terrible at this so fucking often.
But as for the other things… I don’t mean to discredit fans who are this involved but ffs, if all you do is throw around lofty words that don’t mean shit and that’s your demand, then Idk wtf you even want. And then it sounds like whining. Especially when they complain about ‘backwards-looking approaches’ and then shit on every innovative thing the club tried. I did not care for much of it but I also generally don’t care about merch at all. But at least they tried something (like the One Piece stuff).
i would say it’s a good letter and on the other hand, the fact that they dismissed nuri and installed an experienced coach, and not for 5+ years or so with millions of salary, this was a first step acknowledging that themselves, at least to a degree.
I don’t get the criticism around one piece or the wrestling belts. It seems quite contradictory to complain about the attempts to expand Dortmunds reach with new creative ideas while also complaining about other teams catching up to us. If we are to grow and catch up to Bayern, we have to get creative with it. We can’t keep doing the same shit over and over. It’s the same with our recent change in transfer strategy. Yeah we’ve had lots of amazing players come through in the last 10 years but we haven’t made it over the hump yet, we haven’t won the league again, we’ve only won 2 DFB pokals if I remember correctly. I am also not sure what there is to critize about it. Other than Cuoto and Haller, we’ve had quite a lot of success in the last 2 years with the players we’ve bought.
I agree with everything they said except about the one piece collab. On that front it kind of contradicts if you complain about us repeating cycles and not being able to pull ahead of clubs below us, while also complaining about attempts to (in good conscience )expand audiences. And if you don’t want a special jersey don’t buy it. Other than that, the letter really encapsulates everything I’ve been thinking.
This letter is mostly going to kick in open doors anyways. Quite a lot of things will be under scrutiny after this season, a lot of this might just not be publicly communicated (which is good and professional).
There is a difference of what you say in public and behind closed doors. Dortmunds leadership made some mistakes, but they are NOT stupid.
And about the sponsorship/collaboration stuff…im sorry but this is 2025. The world is changing, and you have to keep moving with it or be left behind. Thats just reality.
No idea whats supposed to be wrong with the OnePiece-collab, and im in no way an anime fan.
Event shirts are sometimes cool and more often not that much…every club does it, its normal.
The designs could be better in general, but that applies for a lot of Dortmund shirts in recent years.
And the whole Rheinmetall-deal…well my opinion on that is probably a strong outlier.
There is a war of agression with hundrets of thousands of dead going on right now in Europe, and Rheinmetall is a not insignificant piece in the puzzle of why Ukraine still even exists today. In peace times, companies like them do a lot of dirty/scummy things to sell their stuff…but we dont live in those anymore. RN companies like them are badly needed and should be, strangely, valued. We might be soon enough all be happy to have them. Russia tried to murder their CEO multiple times. So no, as of right now I dont feel bad in any way about having them represented in our commercial banners in any way.
There are so many dual use goods producers in sport sponsorships, be it drug companies, electronics, banks that earn money with sooo many questionable things etc, and dont even get me started about all the gambling BS that is flooding everywhere…but we draw the line at weapons smh? Makes no sense to me.
The optics on delivering this letter, with the same tired complaints from earlier in the season, despite the teams measured and professional turnaround, is really ugly.
Dunk on Sammer and Rheinmetall all day, but bitching about neon kits – when they complain about wanting more funds to compete – is peak hypocritical cringe.
The “we wanted to send this letter earlier but didnt want to be a distraction”, my god, get the fuck over yourselves.
They fired Sven, Nuri, marginalized Sammer, and hired an experienced coach to guide the listing ship into the champions league port. The players responded and gave it their all. What the heck else do you want?
Im usually a full send with the overall sentiment from the südtribüne, but this letter today is pathetic.
> the unworthy dismissal of coach Sahin in the Bologna dressing room
Stopped reading at this
So what’s the solution they want to offer