Rising from the ashes : Borussia Dortmund

Losing a second Champions League final in three years would have surely broken the hearts of all the Munich fans and many may worry about the next chance but they need to forget about that and worry more about their domestic situation, where they remain trophy-less for two seasons.

Bayern Munich have always been the powerhouse of Germany, their title might have been threatened time and again by various teams but in the end they prevailed. 22 German league titles and 15 DFB-Pokal titles (German equivalent of FA cup) are enough proof of it.

But the times appear to be changing, in the previous two seasons they have lost the title to Dortmund based Borussians and were also beaten 5-2 in this year’s edition of DFB-Pokal. Borussia Dortmund have shown that their 2010 title was not a one-off by not just successfully defending their crown but by going one step further and doing a league and cup double, that too, even after selling their star player of 2011, Nuri Sahin to Real Madrid.



Success is no stranger to Dortmund, as they have not only won league titles before in 1995 and 1996 but they also went on to win the Champions League in 1997, beating the Zinedine Zidane inspired Juventus in the final which gives enough proof of the golden era the club once enjoyed. But the turn of the millennia produced some great horrors for the (then) recent European champions as their fortunes steadily declined due to poor financial management, and the club frequently flirted with relegation and though they won the Bundesliga once more in 2002, they nearly went bankrupt in 2005. To reduce their debts they had to rename their stadium “Signal Iduna Park" and also sell star players like Thomas Rosicky and David Odonkor. With their financial situation improving ,the club began to rise back from the ashes.

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