The 2022/2023 Preseason Officially Begins!

The boys are back in town! Yesterday marked the beginning of preparations for the new season as Borussia Dortmund players both new and old arrived at the club’s training ground. Although I am sure most of the players are bummed that they are no longer partying in Ibiza, it’s good to see them back. Yesterday’s session only involved medicals to see how fit everyone was coming into training so we will have to wait to see them kicking the ball around. While most international players will slowly return to training within the next two weeks, we did get to see a healthy Mateu Morey back! A welcome sight after he missed the entirety of last season. Here is the link to Dortmund’s training camp schedule, including five friendly games that will take place before the first round of the DFB Pokal on July 29^th.

New Squad Numbers

With the beginning of preseason also came the announcement of squad numbers for the team’s new additions. Schlotterbeck will be given the number four, once worn by fan-favorite Nevin Subotić, and Niklas Süle will be given twenty-five despite being four at Bayern. Özcan will get number six, a number last worn by Thomas Delaney, although hopefully he will be slightly less redundant than the Dane. Karim Adeyemi will be replacing Fear the Wall legend Steffen “The Tigginator” Tigges as number twenty-seven.

New Jobs

Lastly, two former Dortmund employees have changed clubs coming into the new season. Mario Götze returns to the Bundesliga with Eintracht Frankfurt and will be looking to help the reigning Europa League winners. Götze had a good two seasons with PSV Eindhoven since leaving Dortmund so it will be interesting to see how he does back in Germany. Former Dortmund coach and Edin Terzic’s mentor, Lucien Favre, has also found his first coaching role after being fired a season and a half ago. He will return to OGC Nice following Cristophe Galtier’s move to Paris Saint-Germain. I am pretty bummed he didn’t go to Borussia Mönchengladbach because I figured it would be entertaining to see him back in the Bundesliga. I can’t fault a 64-year-old man, however, for choosing the French Riviera over a city called Mönchengladbach.

Let me know some of your thoughts heading into the new season as things officially begin to kick off!