Dortmund is quite a grey city in the Ruhr, but a visit to Borussia Dortmund is always impressive. The Westfalenstadion is one of the biggest stadiums in Europe, and the famous Gelbe Wand never loses any of its magic, no matter how often you've been there.
You can spot the Westfalenstadion, which is officially named the Signal Iduna Park, from miles away given its capacity of 81,000 and the eight yellow pylons which adorn the roof. It's a football temple like none other, even though the design is quite basic. It's a right-angled stadium with stands close to the pitch, enclosed corners and two tiers all over the stadium, except for the Gelbe Wand. It's the most special aspect of Dortmund's stadium, the giant terracing on the Südtribune which continues in one piece to the roof and fits 25,000 Borussians.
In the shadows of the Westfalenstadion, you will find Stadion Rot Erde, directly behind the Osttribune. It was the home of Borussia Dortmund until the Westfalenstadion was built for the 1974 World Cup. Currently, the reserve squad of BVB plays its home matches here. When the big Borussia plays at home, there's a typical German Biergarten in the stadium.
This snack bar on Oesterholzstraße 60 used to be ‘Zum Wildschütz’, the restaurant where Borussia Dortmund was founded in 1909. On the front of the building, there's a plaque which tells the remarkable history. The current name is a bit misleading, because the colour of the interior is solely yellow with jerseys and flags of BVB and pictures of the early years when Borussia still played in this neighbourhood. In more recent years, even Jürgen Klopp came to eat pommes (chips) here. The highlight of Pommes Rot Weiss is the giant club crest on the wall, created with 15,000 little chip forks.
Even though Borussia Dortmund wasn't founded before 1909, the roots of the club lay in this church. It was the youth section of this church on the Flurstraße who started to play football matches until a chaplain came around who didn't like football at all. After that, the youth section created Borussia Dortmund in Zum Wildschütz.
Time heals all wounds, however, and the church has graced the club and is now proud to be the founding father of BVB. There are special church services and you'll even find a special 'BVB angel', where fans can light a candle for the future of their club.
In the northeast corner of the stadium is Borusseum, BVB's club museum. A beautiful club collection throughout the years, with its biggest trophy the Champions League which they won in 1997.
There are loads of bars and restaurants in Dortmund that feel connected with Borussia Dortmund, but the connection of this café slash restaurant is very special. The owner of Mit Schmackes is namely Kevin Grosskreutz, son of BVB, a key player during the last two league titles and one of the world champions of 2014. It's on the corner of the Hohe Straße and the Kreuzstraße, a 15-minute walk from the stadium.
Borussia Dortmund became champions for the first time in nine years in 2011. What followed was a giant eruption of joy in the city. Key player Neven Subotic got stuck in a traffic jam and stepped out of his car on the Lindemannstraße to celebrate with the fans. In no time, the Serbian stood shirtless on the roof of his own car, with hundreds of fans cheering around the car. On the corner with the Kreuzstraße is a parking spot painted on the road, with the explicit footnote: Only to be used by Neven Subotic.
If you would like to see the centre of Dortmund before the match, it's best to go to the Markt, one of the central squares in the city. Home - and sometimes also away - fans gather here. Wenkers is a nice football pub with jerseys of Borussia and some of their opponents on the walls.
Almost every home game of Borussia Dortmund sells out, but against the smaller teams, you have a bigger chance to get tickets on the club's official website. Our advice is not to stand in the Gelbe Wand itself, but choose a place where you have an amazing view of it. It's much more impressive.
Motorway A40 runs almost immediately along the Signal Iduna Park, which makes the stadium easily accessible by car. Around the stadium, there's a lot of parking space available. Make sure you have cash with you, to pay for a parking spot in advance.
Behind the Südtribune is the train station Dortmund Signal-Iduna-Park, where you get from station Dortmund Hauptbahnhof in less than ten minutes. From the city, you can also take the metro (the U-Bahn), for example from Reinoldikirche or Stadtgarten, with terminus Westfalenhalle/Stadion.
Images: Shutterstock, BSR Agency
