Dortmund's Season Analysis: Strengths and Struggles

Borussia Dortmund’s season never settled into one clear shape. It lurched, surged, stalled. At times it was held together by a goalkeeper and a new defensive leader; at others it was dragged down by big fees, bigger expectations and some very human frailties.

Through it all, a few players quietly had the best campaigns of their careers. Others slipped backwards. And some never really got going.

Kobel, Anton and the spine that held

If Dortmund had any kind of platform this year, Gregor Kobel poured the concrete.

Across 47 competitive matches, the Swiss keeper faced down 57 goals, kept 18 clean sheets and played more minutes than anyone else in the squad. The numbers are solid. The feeling was stronger. He bailed his team out repeatedly with the sort of saves that stop seasons from unravelling: full-stretch, reaction stops, one‑on‑ones where the striker is already half-celebrating.

His defining moment came in Frankfurt, where he turned a cup tie into his own stage by dominating the penalty shoot-out. That night underlined why he’s seen as one of the Bundesliga’s most reliable keepers. Only one real blot: an unnecessary pass in Freiburg that triggered Jobe Bellingham’s red card. A rare lapse in a season of authority. Rating: 2.

In front of him, Waldemar Anton quietly took over the back line.

Signed from Stuttgart, he didn’t just slot in; he imposed himself. Second-most minutes in the squad, 44 games, and the kind of reliability coaches build systems around. Anton tackled with conviction, stayed switched on and threw himself into duels with a relentlessness that turned him, not Nico Schlotterbeck, into Dortmund’s defensive reference point. Three goals were a bonus. The real value lay in his consistency and edge. Rating: 2.

Schlotterbeck’s story ran in the opposite direction. He came back in September after months out and initially looked sharp, only for his form to swing wildly. Too many of Dortmund’s conceded goals had his fingerprints on them, and the uncertainty around his future seeped into his performances. Five goals – a personal best – showed his set-piece threat, but the overall impression was of a defender capable of much more than he delivered. Rating: 3.

Behind them, the centre-back picture kept shifting. Chelsea loanee Aaron Anselmino arrived short of rhythm, impressed immediately, then disappeared with injury. When he returned, he played like he’d never been away: aggressive in the tackle, composed on the ball, mature beyond his 20 years. Ten matches, 585 minutes, one goal, one assist – and then gone, recalled by Chelsea via a winter buy-back clause just as he hinted at something bigger. Rating: 2.5.

Young Italian defender Reggiani stepped into the chaos created by injuries. Thrown into the side, he settled quickly enough to earn his first professional contract and even scored in his fourth Bundesliga outing. As the right-sided centre-back in a back three he understandably kept things simple, often leaning on Anton’s guidance. Nine games, 603 minutes, one goal – a decent start, nothing more, nothing less. Rating: 3.5.

Not everyone in defence managed to stay afloat. One 20-year-old centre-back profited early from the absences of Schlotterbeck and Emre Can, made his debut in the cup win in Essen and followed it up with a Bundesliga bow five days later. That second appearance turned sour: a late penalty conceded, a red card, and a rapid fall down the pecking order. Reggiani overtook him, and he finished the season with the U23s. Six appearances, 311 minutes, no rating – just a harsh lesson.

Bensebaini, Ryerson and a restless back line

On the left, Ramy Bensebaini finally looked like he belonged.

After a period of adaptation, the Algerian defender pieced together a solid campaign. His technical quality has never been in doubt; this season he sharpened the defensive side of his game and became a steady outlet in the build-up. With seven goals and three assists in 32 matches, he also offered a threat going forward, finishing as the most prolific player behind the attacking quartet of Serhou Guirassy, Julian Brandt, Maximilian Beier and Karim Adeyemi. Rating: 2.5.

On the opposite flank, Julian Ryerson’s relentless running remained a feature, but his attacking influence faded. He played almost non-stop in the first half of the season and logged the third-most minutes in the squad – 45 matches, 3,462 minutes – yet his forward contribution often felt muted. Four goals and two assists are respectable, but for a player who covers so much ground and reads the game so well, the second half of the campaign was uneven. 2026, in particular, left room for improvement. Rating: 4.

Thomas Meunier’s successor on the right, the once-troubled full-back who had promised to back up his words with performances, only half-delivered. He did cut down his error rate, showed more commitment and chipped in with three goals and three assists across 27 games. But defensive duels still exposed him, and after the winter break he couldn’t hold off Ryerson, spending most of his time on the bench. For a €25 million signing, that’s not enough. Rating: 4.5.

Midfield: Nmecha rises, Sabitzer fades, Özcan disappears

In midfield, Felix Nmecha finally produced the season Dortmund had been waiting for.

Across 42 appearances and 3,137 minutes, the German international imposed himself on games with his control on the ball, his ability to accelerate play and the vision to find the right pass between the lines. Five goals and three assists don’t tell the full story; his absence during injury spells underlined how much the side relied on his presence to keep the midfield ticking. There were dips, but this was his most convincing year in black and yellow. Rating: 2.

Emre Can never found that rhythm. The captain lost months to injury at the start, then saw his form swing up and down before a cruciate ligament tear ended his season early. Sixteen games, 980 minutes, three goals – a stop-start campaign that never allowed him to build authority in the middle of the park. Rating: 3.5.

Marcel Sabitzer’s year was even more underwhelming. At 32, with his experience and quality, Dortmund expected a leader. Instead, the Austrian midfielder flickered briefly into form after a poor pre-season, then slipped out of games too often. One goal and four assists in 34 appearances tell their own story: too little influence, too rarely. Rating: 4.5.

Behind them, Salih Özcan simply vanished from the picture. Left out of the Champions League squad, he saw a planned summer move collapse due to injury. Niko Kovac promised more minutes after the winter break; Özcan got just 53. Twelve appearances, 74 minutes, no goals, no assists and no contract extension. He leaves on a free, a quiet exit for a player who never fully convinced. No rating.

Bellingham’s learning curve and the kids on the rise

Jobe Bellingham’s first full season in Dortmund colours was a lesson in adaptation.

The jump from England’s second tier to the Bundesliga hit him hard at first. He played it safe, looked shaky in defensive situations and rarely took risks. But as the months passed, he grew. By the end of the campaign he had nailed down a starting spot, opening 29 of his 45 appearances. No goals, four assists, 2,665 minutes – modest numbers, yet the trajectory points upwards. Rating: 3.5.

Further forward, Dortmund caught a glimpse of the future in Inacio.

At 18, the Italian attacking midfielder already sees passes most players don’t spot at 30, as Kovac put it. In seven appearances and 383 minutes he scored once, pressed hard off the ball and constantly found pockets of space between the lines. With a bit more precision, he could easily have added three or four more goals. His rating remains open, but his impact didn’t go unnoticed. No rating.

Brandt, Gross, and a creative reshuffle

Julian Brandt delivered again in front of goal – and still left you wanting more.

Fifteen goal contributions from just 24 starts is an outstanding return: 11 goals and four assists in 41 games, bettered only by Guirassy. Yet the same old frustration lingered. For a player of his talent, the club expected a season of relentless influence. Instead, there were patches of brilliance, followed by games where he drifted. Dortmund have chosen not to extend his contract, and now must replace both his output and his flashes of inspiration. Rating: 2.5.

Pascal Groß, by contrast, never really got going in his second act at the club. Despite ranking second among Dortmund’s outfielders with 15 assists in the 2024/25 campaign, the 34-year-old found himself reduced mostly to a substitute role this time. Sixteen appearances, 732 minutes, no goals, just two assists. He started only eight matches and rarely seized his opportunities, prompting a winter return to Brighton. Rating: 4.5.

Chukwuemeka and the cost of unrealised talent

Carney Chukwuemeka’s season became a case study in wasted potential.

The fee was high, the expectation higher, but his impact remained modest. Across 38 matches he averaged just 32 minutes per appearance, started only ten times and didn’t complete a full 90 minutes in the league until mid-April at Hoffenheim – the first time in his professional career he lasted the distance. Three goals and two assists in 1,225 minutes show flashes of talent, but his lack of fitness and stamina remains the central issue. The ability is there; the body hasn’t kept pace. Rating: 4.5.

Adeyemi, Beier and a tale of two trajectories

Karim Adeyemi’s season split in two.

Before the winter break, he looked like the explosive winger Dortmund thought they had signed. Nine goal contributions in the first half of the campaign, the acceleration, the direct running – it was all there. Then 2026 arrived and the floor fell away. Injuries, only six starts in the second half of the season, a total of 39 games, 1,836 minutes, ten goals and six assists. On paper, he still finished as joint third-top scorer alongside Beier. On the pitch, his form collapsed, and earlier disciplinary issues on and off the field cast a long shadow. With a World Cup looming, the disappointment felt sharper. Rating: 4.

Beier moved in the opposite direction and became the club’s revelation after the turn of the year.

Dortmund’s “star of the second half of the season” scored ten goals and laid on ten more in 44 matches, often while playing out of position. He prefers operating in a front two or as a deep-lying central forward, but spent much of the run-in stationed on the left of midfield. It didn’t matter. His impact stayed high, his numbers climbed and his performances almost certainly pushed him into contention for the DFB’s World Cup squad. The challenge now is simple: keep this level. Rating: 2.5.

Guirassy and the weight of expectation

Serhou Guirassy entered the season under the burden of his own numbers.

After 43 goal contributions in 45 games last year, 28 in 46 this time feels like a step down – even if most strikers would kill for 22 goals and six assists. He still finished with double the goals of Dortmund’s next-best scorer, Brandt. Yet the campaign was defined as much by what didn’t go in as by what did. A brutal run of one goal in 13 Bundesliga matches stalled Dortmund’s momentum and exposed his reliance on rhythm and confidence.

Off the ball, trouble brewed. A penalty dispute in Turin, a refusal to shake Kovac’s hand, poor body language at key moments – all of it chipped away at the image of a pure goalscorer. The output remained strong; the season around it felt strangely uneasy. Rating: 2.5.

The supporting cast in attack

Dortmund’s new striker signing never fully escaped the shadow of his own fitness issues.

He arrived injured, spent weeks chasing match sharpness and mostly had to make do with short cameos. When he did start, the spark was there – energetic pressing, good movement – but the finishing touch went missing. Three goals and seven assists in 39 games and 1,181 minutes hint at a useful squad player, yet for a forward in this team, the bar sits higher. Next season, he has to turn promise into end product. Rating: 3.5.

On the right flank, the Norwegian wide man served as the creative engine.

He didn’t score once in 42 games, but he set up 18 goals – 15 of them in the Bundesliga, a tally bettered only by Bayern’s Michael Olise (22) and Luis Díaz (17). His work rate never dipped, his fight never softened, and in domestic competition he remained one of Dortmund’s most reliable providers. In Europe, his limitations surfaced more clearly, with his lack of goal threat and certain technical ceilings exposed against higher-level opposition. Rating: 2.5.

The ones who slipped away

Some stories barely had time to form.

Emre Can’s season ended early. Özcan’s never really began. Several youngsters – Cole Campbell, Almugera Kabar, Mathis Albert – tasted only a handful of minutes. Nine others sat on the bench all year without playing a single second, from reserve keeper Alexander Meyer, who made the squad 47 times, to prospects like Julien Duranville and Giovanni Reyna, whose names stayed on team sheets rather than scoreboards.

They will look at this season as a missed chance or a painful education. Dortmund, as a club, will see it as something else: a reminder that a squad can be deep on paper yet thin where it matters most.

Because for all the flashes of brilliance – Kobel’s saves, Anton’s authority, Nmecha’s control, Beier’s surge – the campaign never quite cohered into a sustained push. Too many key players dipped, too many expensive gambles failed to pay off, and too many minutes were spent waiting for talent to turn into dominance.

Next season, the question is blunt: does this group finally grow into a ruthless, consistent side, or does Dortmund once again watch its best moments arrive in isolated bursts, never long enough to define a year?