Borussia Dortmund’s 2023/24 campaign was a story of contrasting emotions.
Bundesliga disappointment sat alongside a dream run in the Champions League, leaving fans with a complex feeling of frustration and pride.
Dortmund went into last season following an awful capitulation on the final matchday of the 2022/23 campaign that allowed Bayern Munich to pip them to the title.
How manager Erdin Terzic managed to keep his job after such incredulous tanking remains a mystery.
Terzic was left in tears as he watched his boyhood club fail to clinch their ninth league title, and he probably expected (and deserved) the sack only to retain his position ahead of the new season.
Dortmund were earmarked to fight for the Meisterschale again in the 2023/24 campaign.
Many expected BVB would be out to rectify their mistakes from the previous season, but what followed was another ultimately appalling league campaign.
Even though things didn’t go as planned, Seatsnet.com was still the one-stop shop for Dortmund fans hoping to secure game tickets. Seatsnet.com remains the best ticket marketplace to snag your seats for next season.
Dortmund finished in fifth place in the Bundesliga rankings, a position that would have seen them miss out on Champions League football in other seasons.
BVB did not come out of the tracks purring. Their campaign started with a 1-0 draw at home to FC Koln, and while some noted they were slow starters, others saw it as a sign of things to come.
The pessimists were absolutely spot on. BVB drew their next two games against VfL Bochum and newly promoted Heidenheim, meaning they had picked up only five points from their first three games.
Meanwhile, Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen had begun to build momentum as BVB stuttered through the early exchanges.
Dortmund began to put up some points on the board, claiming scalps against SC Freiburg, VfL Wolfsburg, Union Berlin, and Werder Bremen.
However, as has become customary over the past few years, when Bayern rolled into town, Die Schwarz Gelben wilted.
Bayern thrashed BVB 4-0 at the Signal Iduna Park to send a clear message that Dortmund were not ready for the title race.
The record Bundesliga champions never let Dortmund settle, establishing dominance over them in every facet of the match-up.
Surprise package VfB Stuttgart also beat Dortmund the following week to compound their misery, and they never quite bounced back.
Further poor results against eventual Champions Leverkusen, RB Leipzig, Augsburg, and FSV Mainz 05 meant BVB were already out of the title race by the time the league went for its mid-season holidays.
BVB only secured Champions League football for next season because Germany notched extra spots thanks to the expanded format.
Interestingly, despite the anticlimactic league run, their Champions League was a fairytale campaign, albeit without the dreamy ending they craved.
BVB came out on top of their group, which included French giants Paris Saint-Germain, seven-time champions AC Milan, and the dangerous Newcastle United.
Terzic’s defensive tactics had led to Bundesliga pundits and journalists branding him a coward.
However, he was praised for masterminding excellent defensive displays in the Champions League. Dortmund held on till the final, eliminating PSV Eindhoven, Atletico Madrid, and PSG to set up a final against Real Madrid.
In the final, Karim Adeyemi and Niclas Fullkrug had excellent chances to deliver the title but squandered their opportunities. Madrid capitalised and defeated them 2-0.
Amidst their league failures and Champions League run, they had crashed out of the DFB-Pokal as Stuttgart stunned them in the round of 16.
Terzic bows out, in comes Nuri Sahin
Terzic decided to call time on his tenure with BVB following a bust-up with Mats Hummels. The long-serving German defender also used the exit door after 13 years as a BVB player.
Terzic delivered a DFB-Pokal title in his first stint, but it is hard to look at his time at the club as anything other than underwhelming.
Dortmund consistently performed below expectations under Terzic. The German manager never truly stood out for his tactical nous, and his side showed all sorts of naivety in crucial matches.
A change was necessary, and BVB announced former midfielder Nuri Sahin as their new manager. He will be joined in the dugout by cult hero Jakub Błaszczykowski.
The pair barely have any management experience but have been tasked with leading the Bundesliga heavyweights into a new era.
Dortmund’s team is already taking a new shape ahead of the new season. Hummels has left the club. Club icon and fan favourite Marco Reus has also departed and is heading for the Major League Soccer (MLS).
Ian Maatsen (Chelsea) and Jadon Sancho (Manchester United) will return to their respective clubs when their loan contracts expire.
However, BVB have entered the transfer market with direction, sealing deals for Serhou Guirassy and Waldemar Anton from Stuttgart.
Dortmund still have a couple more deals in the pipeline as they look to plug holes in their squad and re-establish themselves as contenders on all fronts next season.
What to expect next season?
Sahin is a bit of an unknown quantity in management, but many clubs seem eager to unearth their own managerial star after seeing Xabi Alonso’s success with Leverkusen.
Sahin had an interesting spell in Turkiye, leading Antalyaspor to a streak of unbeaten games and establishing himself as one to watch out for.
However, he is still a big risk for Dortmund. The expectations at BVB are massive, and the 35-year-old has to defy huge odds to keep his place.
Sahin must find a way to get Dortmund to play crisp, attacking football again. He will want to turn them into a ferocious force in their bid to topple Leverkusen.
The 52-cap Turkiye international should find a way to strike a balance between attack and defence, something Terzic struggled to achieve during his time at the club, often tilting heavily towards one side.
Dortmund must be hungry, bordering on desperate to bounce back from this fifth-place finish. They should be in the title race, trying to get their hands on the league title for the first time since 2012.
BVB have to be in the mix for the Meisterschale every season, and they must not let that standard slip. Sahin will need to steer the club into the top two to consider his first season at the club a success.
In the Champions League, it may be difficult for the German side to repeat their impressive run, but they must aim for a place in the knockout rounds.
They will likely be drawn up against stronger sides but must find the resilience to get to the quarter-final.
The DFB-Pokal remains Dortmund’s best chance at clinching a trophy next season. They have won the Cup five times and will be out to add to that tally.
Securing the cup can help quench the Yellow Wall’s thirst for a trophy. Dortmund have not won the cup since 2021 but can clinch it if they get their recruitment right and Sahin delivers tactically.
