Match Thread: Borussia Dortmund vs Villarreal CF | UEFA Champions League Matchday 1

:BVB: Borussia Dortmund

Important Information

Kick-off is at 21:00 CEST at the Westfalenstadion in Dortmund.

Borussia Dortmund

Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund (German pronunciation: [boˈʁʊsi̯a ˈdɔʁtmʊnt]) or by its initialism BVB (pronounced [ˌbeːfaʊ̯ˈbeː]), or just Dortmund by international fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional football team, which plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system.

Founded in 1909 by eighteen football players from Dortmund, they are nicknamed Die Schwarzgelben (The Black and Yellow), for the colours used in the club's crest. They hold a long-standing rivalry with Ruhr neighbours Schalke 04, against whom they contest the Revierderby. They also contest Der Klassiker with FC Bayern Munich. Dortmund is the largest sports club by membership in Germany after FC Bayern Munich, with about 218,000 members, making Borussia Dortmund the fifth largest sports club by membership in the world. The club also has a women's handball team. Since 1974, Dortmund have played their home games at the Westfalenstadion; the stadium is the largest in Germany, the Yellow Wall, a standing terrace in the South Stand, is the largest of its kind in Europe, and Dortmund has the highest average attendance of any association football club in the world.

Dortmund is the second most decorated German football team; domestically, they have eight league championships, five DFB-Pokals, and six DFL-Supercups. Internationally, they won the UEFA Champions League in 1997, the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1966, and the Intercontinental Cup in 1997, in addition, to being the runners-up in the Champions League in 2013 and 2024 and UEFA Europa League (formerly the UEFA Cup) in 1993 and 2002.

Under the directorship of Michael Zorc in the 2010s, Dortmund cultivated a reputation for spotting and developing young talent, and have remained focused on developing a youth system. As of 2024, Dortmund had the second most revenue across football clubs in Germany, and the 12th most revenue across all football teams in the world, per Deloitte's Football Money League.

Villarreal CF

Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF, is a Spanish professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, that plays in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football.

Founded in 1923, the club spent much time of its history in the lower divisions of Spanish football and began in La Liga in 1998. In the 21st century, Villarreal gained some league stability, although they sustained relegation in 2012, rebounding the next year and then remaining in the top division to date. The club made its first appearance in the UEFA Champions League in 2005, with its best result being the semi-finals in 2006 and 2022. Villarreal also appeared in the UEFA Europa League during this time, and won the competition in 2021 by defeating Manchester United in the final, clinching their first major trophy.

The club is nicknamed El Submarí Groguet or El Submarino Amarillo (Yellow Submarine) due to its yellow home kit, and due to being a low-profile team compared to Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, and regional rivals Valencia. They play their home games at the Estadio de la Cerámica, and have been touted as an example of a small but successful club.

The Stadium

Westfalenstadion (German pronunciation: [vɛstˈfaːlənˌʃtaːdi̯ɔn], lit. 'Westphalia stadium') is a football stadium in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, which is the home stadium of Borussia Dortmund. Officially called Signal Iduna Park [zɪɡˌnaːl ʔiˈduːna ˌpaʁk] for sponsorship reasons and BVB Stadion Dortmund in UEFA competitions, the name derives from the former Prussian province of Westphalia.

It has a league capacity of 81,365 (standing and seated) and an international capacity of 65,829 (seated only). It is Germany's largest stadium, the sixth-largest in Europe, and the third-largest home to a top-flight European club after Camp Nou and Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. It holds the European record for average fan attendance, set in the 2011–12 season with almost 1.37 million spectators over 17 games at an average of 80,588 per game. Sales of annual season tickets amounted to 55,000 in 2015.

The 24,454 capacity Südtribüne (South Bank) is the largest terrace for standing spectators in European football, after the terraces-ban within FIFA, FA and UEFA affiliated football. Famous for the intense atmosphere it breeds, the south terrace has been nicknamed Die Gelbe Wand, meaning "The Yellow Wall". The Borusseum, the museum of Borussia Dortmund, is located in the north-east part of the stadium.

The stadium hosted matches in the 1974 and 2006 FIFA World Cups. It also hosted the 2001 UEFA Cup final. Various national friendlies and qualification matches for World and European tournaments have been played there, as well as matches in European club competitions.

Statistics (Competitions only)

MatchesWins DortmundDrawsWins VillarrealGoals
11004–0

UEFA Champions League

SeasonMatchdayTeam 1ResultTeam 2
2025–26Matchday 5Borussia Dortmund4–0 (1–0)Villarreal CF

Posted Sep 8, 2026, 5:02 PM UTC

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