The Bundesliga is home to many great academies, but the best one has to be in Dortmund.
Borussia Dortmund is an exciting club. Their exhilarating football is a product of their excellent academy and coaching system. A Dortmund team will always have a prodigy or two in their starting eleven. Their football is entertaining, youthful and there is always a goal-fest.
They encourage young players to take the center – stage. Dortmund constantly seems to take that risk with young players. A young player will be given playing time at this club that no other top team in Europe can offer.
That is why it is a preferred destination for many young starlets. Jadon Sancho, Erling Haaland, Jude Bellingham, and many others have joined Dortmund for this same reason.
If it is that exciting for a player outside the club, to come and play at Signal Iduna Park. You can imagine how thrilled their Academy athletes would be.
Let us look at 3 such players who broke through the Dortmund school and made a name for themselves in the footballing world.
1] Mario Götze
Götze was signed as an eight-year-old and progressed through the ranks at Borussia Dortmund before making his debut in 2009. Götze was one-third of Borussia Dortmund’s lethal attacking trio under Jurgen Klopp as the team dominated the Bundesliga in the early 2010s.
In 2013, an unsuccessful transfer to Bayern Munich saw Götze return to Borussia Dortmund in 2016. Götze turbulent times can be blamed on injury concerns and a loss of form. Mario Götze will end his Borussia Dortmund career at the end of this season, having made over 200 appearances.
Mario Götze will always be remembered for that goal against Argentina in 2014. Coming off as a substitute for the Germans, the 21-year-old at that time scored the winner in the finals in dying moments of extra time. He achieved the ultimate football fantasy of a professional footballer at only 21. He did something which others can’t even dare of dreaming.
Mario Götze for Germany, a product of the Dortmund academy.
Despite his illness and injury issues, Götze at 29, could be a game-changer for any club he joins at the end of the season.
2] Marco Reus
Marco Reus joined the Borussia Dortmund youth academy at a young age and stayed for ten years. But Borussia Dortmund made a mistake and released Reus after that.
Reus graduated from the Rot Weiss Ahlen youth system and made his Bundesliga debut for Borrusia Monchengladbach in 2009. It took Dortmund three years to correct their error. Since then, the German has been a constant at Borussia Dortmund.
Marco Reus is the premium player at Dortmund and is also their club captain. Reus is one of the best players of this generation for Dortmund. Unlike many other players, Reus is the one exception that has been faithful to the club.
He has his fair share of injuries but despite that fact, he has been an exceptional talent for the club.
3] Michael Zorc
Michael Zorc, a man who embodies Borussia Dortmund, is arguably the greatest player and academy product in the club’s history. After joining the club’s academy at the age of 16, the German began his association with Borussia Dortmund in 1978.
During his playing career, the German was a defensive midfielder known for his ball distribution and defensive abilities. Because of his accuracy from the penalty spot, he became Borussia Dortmund’s first-choice penalty taker.
Zorc, nicknamed ‘Susi,’ led Borussia Dortmund to consecutive Bundesliga titles, the DFB Pokal, and their only UEFA Champions League and Intercontinental Cup victories. After 572 Bundesliga appearances and 159 goals, the midfielder called it quits at the end of the Champions League-winning season in 1997.
