Why Borussia Dortmund's not-so-secret recipe for success is so hard to copy

EXCLUSIVE | As BVB prepare for a titanic title clash with Bundesliga behemoths Bayern Munich, youth chief Lars Ricken discusses the club's philosophy, fans and scouting approach
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As the Premier League title race becomes ever closer, a decisive blow could be delivered in another on the continent as Borussia Dortmund host Bayern Munich.

Dortmund are perhaps the most popular underdogs in European football, a club the majority of fans worldwide have some kind of affinity for. That popularity is borne out of their history of blooding youngsters from their academy to take on the financial might of Bayern and the rest of Europe’s elite.

A visit to their Westfalenstadion home and a glimpse of the famous ‘Yellow Wall’ is on the bucket list of many a supporter, but it is not just fans who want a slice of Der BVB; clubs around the world have tried and, largely, failed to copy their model.

As their opponents this weekend swallow up the best and brightest ready-made talent from the Bundesliga at their will, Dortmund take another approach. Their meticulous scouting and proficiency for promoting youth is well documented and something clubs in Europe’s highest echelons have looked to match, but the culture created to allow such success to grow is a one off.

As well as players and managers, clubs in the Premier League and around Europe have lifted coaches, analysts and technical directors with the aim of adding a little bit of Dortmund to their own model - but no one seems to be able to strike quite the right chord.

“It is hard to copy it,” says Lars Ricken, a Champions League winner and one-club man as a player, and now heading up the famed academy.

Ricken with Dortmund youngster Marius von Cysewski in 2017
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“I think one part of our success is that we have the most responsible people here for a long time. [Sporting director] Michael Zorc has been here, as a player too nearly 40 years since he was youth player.

“They are the most important people for the philosophy and they stay here for a long time, I think that is very important. If you have each season, or every two seasons, a new manager, sporting director or CEO, every time you have a new philosophy, new employees so I think that is remarkable that these two guys are in Dortmund such a long time.

Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke (left) with Michael Zorc (right)
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“In the youth department too; me, the sporting director in the youth department, head of scouting… we are all working for Borussia Dortmund for over 100 years combined. That is I think one secrets of our success.”

That longevity woven into the club buys time and patience with the fanbase, creating a vital relationship which allows homegrown stars to thrive.

“That is one reason why the atmosphere in our stadium is so great because there is marvellous identification between the fans and the players, the players and the fans,” Ricken says. “They want to see guys from Dortmund, even if they are not born in Dortmund. For example Mario Gotze was not born here but played for 10 years in our youth team.”

That relationship is why players from even further afield than Gotze, such as Jadon Sancho (wanted by Manchester United) or Christian Pulisic – with the latter set to join Chelsea in the summer for a fee of £57.6million - are taken in so quickly by that Yellow Wall.

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The club see this philosophy as part of their soul. Managers are judged on the youth they promote to replace stars sold for such big figures, but providing the first team with the talent required adds a certain pressure on Ricken - a pressure he thrives under while also seeking not only to do the best for the club, but his players too, wherever they end up.

“That is my mission,” he says. “To find the Pulisic, Jacob Bruun Larsen or Mario Gotze, and I think we have found them, but I won’t tell you who it is!

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“In general it is our approach, not only to find the top talented players but to give each player the chance to become the best he can be. We have 92 players in the first or second league in Germany and across Europe who have been educated in our youth department, so that is our aim as well.

“Sometimes you have a player like Mario Gotze who scored the winning goal in the World Cup.

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"Sometimes you have players who just reach the second league and that could be a success for us as well, because that is the limit for the player. Of course the aim is to bring the players into our first team, we have five players from our youth department in the squad of the first team.”

The club has a unique feel. They are a European giant with the distinct flavour of a family club.

An anti-Nazi banner at BVB's Westfalenstadion in a game against Bayern Munich in 2015
Matthias Hangst/Bongarts/Getty Images

The training ground remains simple and modest to ensure a friendly and family-like working environment for each and every employee across every department.

Potential starlets are won over not only by one of Europe’s greatest arenas, but the fact that they will perhaps get a better chance to play on such a stage in this part of Germany than at any other club on this level.

BVB fans pictured before the club's game at home to VfB Stuttgart last month
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It is something which would seem unsustainable, but Dortmund continue to prove that theory wrong. Victory this weekend, and in their title race, would bring vindication, and further envy across the continent.

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