Bring on the Champions League hymn! Club Brugge will be kicking off another season on the biggest European stage on Wednesday, and what better way to do so than to cross swords with last year's finalists Borussia Dortmund. Find out all there is to know about this clash.
The CL's Match Day One comes with a big one, as the League Phase sets off with a home game against German Dortmund. The team in black and yellow finished fifth in the Bundesliga last season, but more importantly also reached the Champions League Final, where it was bested by Real Madrid. With 7 out of 9 so far this season, Die Borussen are in second place, trailing Vincent Kompany's Bayern Munich.
The Fixture
Ever since Europacup One got revamped to the Champions League, Club has featured in 10 campaigns so far, kicking off its 11th tonight at 21h, making it the seventh time in the past nine seasons. The best run it had was just two years ago, with memorable performances helping Club towards second place in Group B, behind Porto. The Round of 16 was the final stage back then, with Benfica clearly the better team over the two games (0-2 in Bruges, 5-1 in Lisbon).
The two teams will be meeting for the ninth time in Europe. Club managed to win twice, drew level once, and on five occasions Dortmund drew the longest straw. The last time Club battled it out with Dortmund was just four years ago, also at Jan Breydel.
A couple of players featured at both teams throughout their careers, such as Ivan Perisic and Thomas Meunier. Michel Preud'homme also has a past tying them both as (assistent-)coach.
Time to get reacquainted for some players too: Simon Mignolet and Emre Can shared the dressing room for four years at Liverpool, Hugo Siquet and Nico Schlotterbeck represented Freiburg, and Ardon Jashari knows Gregor Kobel from the Swiss national outfit.
The Opponent
Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund (short Borussia Dortmund or BVB) will be our first opponent in the revamped Champions League. Founded back in 1909, they play their home games at the imfamous Signal Iduna Park, the biggest stadium in Germany and one of the biggest in Europe. The team is known for its fanatical fans: Die Gelbe Wand is known throughout the world and can be daunting for opponents.
Eight time champions Dortmund is also the first German team to win European silverware (Europacup II in 1966), and also won the Champions League back in 1996/97. Their biggest rivals in the German Bundesliga are Schalke 04 (Revierderby) and Bayern München (Der Klassiker).
Ever since their last game against Club Brugge in 2020, the Germans have not met with Belgian opposition. BVB won their last four games on Belgian turf, after they also lost their first three in our country. The four wins came with four clean sheets, while the defeats only saw them scoring once, conceding eight.
This will be the 19th time Dortmund starts a Champions League campaign, and the team is now in a nine season run. They only missed out twice on the knock-out phase in their last 11 campaigns.
Last season, coach Edin Terzić' team ended up first in Group F, ahead of Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan and Newcastle. Prior to meeting with PSG in the Semis, they went past PSV Eindhoven and Atlético de Madrid. The Semis both ended in a 1-0 win for BVB, earning them a ticket to the Final, where Real Madrid proved too strong on the night (2-0).
A new wind is blowing through Dortmund these days. Former player and Turkish international Nuri Sahin is now the new team boss, and club icons the likes of Marco Reus (LA Galaxy) and Mats Hummels (AS Roma) have left the team.
Milestones
A seventh (!) CL campaign for both Brandon Mechele and Hans Vanaken, while Simon Mignolet will be manning goal in his sixth CL campaign. Our goalie has featured in 31 CL games so far, 25 of them while at Club. With 38 games so far, Vanaken holds the Club record; with nine goals, he has also netted the most.
The Man in Black
A familiar face handling the whistle tonight. Bosnian Mr. Irfan Peljto was also the one in charge back in September of 2022 during Club - Bayer Leverkusen (1-0). Mr. Peltjo will be backed by his assistants Mr. Senad Ibrišimbegović and Mr. Davor Beljo, fourth official will be Mr. Miloš Gigovic. A Polish duo will be in charge of VAR: Mr. Tomasz Kwiatkowski and Mr. Piotr Lasyk.
Mr. Irfan Peljto has been a FIFA and UEFA appointed ref since 2015. His first ever game was a UCL prelim between La Fiorita and FC Vaduz, while his first international game was back in 2019, a 3-0 of Belgium against Kazachstan.