Borussia Dortmund

Let’s #GetTheBadgeIn for the Ball Game Club (Ballspielverein) from Dortmund, formed in 1909 (hence “BVB 09” on the badge) – Germany’s most successful team with eight league championships, five DFB-Pokals, and six DFL-Supercups.

However, before Haaland, yellow walls, and famous tifos, Borussia Dortmund was known for something much more down to earth – well, under the earth, in fact. It was a coal mining club. Much like Sunderland, Wrexham, or over in Ukraine – Shakhtar Donetsk – these guys were coal miners first. Borussia Dortmund’s early fans were the coal workers, steelworkers, and labourers from Germany’s most industrialised and richest region. The club came to symbolise the working-class pride of the Ruhr. Even today, fans call their support Echte Liebe (True Love) — loyalty over luxury. Even their colours, black and yellow, represent the coal and the spark or fire of industry (Donetsk play in black and orange for similar reasons). Their most recent kit for the Fifa Club World Cup featured a pattern which can only be described unromantically as coal lumps, that ran across the kit.

The name Borussia itself is the old latin name for Prussia (the large German state that gobbled up all the others to form Germany during the 19^th century). But the name was actually adopted by the founders simply because it was the name of the nearby Borussia beer brewery – and they enjoyed a good pint.

Dortmund the city then sits in the heart of the Ruhrgebiet — Germany’s historic coal and steel powerhouse. If you’ve ever heard of the Ruhrgebiet, you’ll know it as simply the Ruhr — and you’ve either done GCSE History at some point in your life or you’re a World War II history buff (or both).

After World War I, Germany was ordered to pay reparations to the Allies under the Treaty of Versailles (1919). When they couldn’t keep up with payments in 1923, French and Belgian troops occupied the Ruhr — taking coal and goods by force.

But the local workers, many of whom by this point were already BVB fans (the club having formed in 1909), fiercely unionised and patriotic, went on strike, refusing to help. The Weimar Government printed more and more money to support them.

And that’s when it all collapsed. The hyperinflation crisis of 1923 — wheelbarrows of cash, pensions wiped out, chaos in the streets — started right here, in Dortmund’s industrial backyard. It was the crisis that first gave Hitler an opening – one he took during the Munich Putsch (it failed, and he ended up in jail – but it did wonders for his brand recognition…).

Today, things are much changed, of course. The region still sits at the heart of German industry – sure, the coal mines have seen better days – but the steel plants have now been joined by car manufacturers, chemical plants, and energy giants like RWE (who currently power around 12 million UK homes too).

It was deemed so important that, post-WWII, the entire region was bundled up into what became the European Coal and Steel Community. Basically, in order to get France to work more closely with Germany in the future (understandably – the French were a little fed up with the Germans by 1945…), the two countries, along with the Benelux nations, agreed to pool their coal and steel resources – the jewel in the crown of Germany’s economy – into one jointly managed enterprise. This co-operation became the bedrock and forerunner of today’s European Union.

So, it is little exaggeration to claim that the future of Europe was forged in the mines and mills of Dortmund.

Today, that spirit that once forged battleships and cars – as well as continental political projects – turns Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park into one of football’s great cathedrals.It contains within it the 24,454-capacity Südtribüne (South Bank). It is the largest terrace for standing spectators in European football. Famous for the intense atmosphere it breeds, the south terrace has been nicknamed Die Gelbe Wand, meaning “The Yellow Wall”.

This is football for the people. Even as Dortmund have grown into a global brand, they’ve never lost touch with their working-class roots. You’ll still find former miners in the stands. It is, by membership, the fifth-biggest fan-owned club in the world, with nearly a quarter of a million signed-up members. That’s not bad community engagement.

Their reach is international, with probably one of the most recognisable badges in the game - and they now also host a feeder team in the Canadian Ontario league that share their colours. BVB's seams run deep.

So, next time you see that badge, remember: it’s not just a logo — it’s coalfield DNA stitched in black and yellow.