​Even before BVB coach Niko Kovac put on his coaching gear, he met Nico Schlotterbeck for the first time on Sunday morning. The injured center back, who is nursing a medial ligament injury in his left ankle, wasn’t yet part of the group that completed the first phase of performance diagnostics that day. Nevertheless, the 26-year-old arrived in his workout clothes and headed to the BVB first team’s fitness area, where he undertook an individual rehabilitation session while his teammates broke a sweat on the treadmill.
Captain Emre Can, who is also in rehab following the cruciate ligament tear he suffered in the spring, appeared in good spirits among his Black and Yellow teammates in the weight room. He greeted the club’s new signings, Justin Lerma and Joane Gadou, who were meeting Dortmund for the first time, and was delighted to reconnect with familiar faces.
The BVB first team—including players such as Serhou Guirassy, Fabio Silva, Jobe Bellingham, and others—dedicated themselves to work in the training area, with sessions in the weight room and on the ergometers. Karim Adeyemi and Kjell Wätjen were not present, having been granted leave to hold talks with other clubs. The players who were still with their national teams at the World Cup until the final rounds were also not yet in Dortmund-Brackel for the diagnostics due to vacation, and will complete the performance assessments later. Julian Ryerson and Gregor Kobel were the last Dortmund teammates to be eliminated from the World Cup in the quarterfinals, returning on Saturday night with their national squads.
Under the guidance of Mathias Kolodziej, Head of Performance and Sports Science at Borussia Dortmund, the professional squad progressively underwent the various health checks and performance tests. As usual, the testing program was overseen by a team of medical professionals, athletic trainers, and sports scientists. At the BVB training facility, the initial emphasis on the first day of performance diagnostics was on sports medicine. The first team underwent physical therapy checks and a series of internal medical examinations in sequence, culminating in a challenging stepwise lactate test and a stress ECG. On Monday, the focus would shift to athletic training.
“Everything is progressing exactly as it should. The schedules are well-structured. Everyone was punctual and is happy to be back here, and that things are finally getting underway again,” explains Mathias Kolodziej, summarizing the first phase of the performance diagnostics. Commenting on the tightly scheduled timeline and procedures during this mandatory assessment, the Head of Performance and Sports Science notes with satisfaction: “We’ve become a very well-coordinated team by now and have our routines in place. We do everything in-house with BVB staff; we no longer use external providers.” In fact, nearly all individual components of the performance assessment—ranging from various strength and physical capacity tests to the lactate measurements and the stress ECG—were conducted in-house, underscoring the club’s streamlined, self-sufficient approach to player health and performance assessment.