On Saturday afternoon Borussia Dortmund has the opportunity to win the German championship for the first time in eleven years. At that time, BVB also won the DFB Cup. But where are the double winners today?
Only a double winner from 2012 could also fight for the German championship in 2023 as a player with Borussia Dortmund – another as an official. A third will be fighting for the Champions League trophy in June. SPOX tells you what the double winners from back then are doing today.
goalkeeper
Roman Weidenfeller (43 competitive games)
The then regular keeper lost his place between the posts in 2015 to Roman Bürki. In the summer of 2018, Roman Weidenfeller ended his active career after 453 competitive appearances in a BVB shirt. After his final stroke, he was still engaged as a TV expert for a long time, but also ended this activity in 2021. Today he acts as club representative of Borussia Dortmund. In May 2023 he became a father for the second time, so he is probably busy at home.
Mitchell Langerak (5 competitive games)
At that time, Mitchell Langerak was number two behind Weidenfeller. When Bürki came in 2015, he switched to VfB Stuttgart, where he also started as number two. In 2016/17 he was even allowed to play as a regular for a season in the 2nd Bundesliga, but was ousted after Ron-Robert Zieler was promoted. This was followed by six months at UD Levante in 2017 before moving to Nagoya Grampus in Japan. He is a star there and is breaking records: he has not conceded a goal 73 times in 186 league games.
centre-back
Mats Hummels (46 competitive games)
The only double winner who plays for BVB today – but with an interruption. After the triumphal season, he played for Borussia Dortmund for another four years, winning the World Cup in 2014 before moving to his youth club FC Bayern Munich in 2016. He won three more league titles there before returning to Dortmund in 2019. He won the DFB Cup with the Black and Yellows in 2021 and could now be German champions for the third time in his career with Borussia Dortmund – it would be his seventh championship trophy overall (he was already part of the FCB champions squad in 2007/08).
Neven Subotic (34 competitive games)
Hummels’ partner in central defense stayed six months longer and was then loaned out to 1. FC Köln. After the second half of the season in the cathedral city, he stayed in Dortmund for another six months before moving to AS St. Étienne in January 2018. From there he moved to 1. FC Union Berlin, where he helped establish himself in the Bundesliga in 2019/20. But after a year it was over, he went to Turkey, from there to Austria and finally ended his in the summer of 2022 with the announcement of his book “Give everything. Why the path to a fairer world begins with us” after a year without a club Career.
Felipe Santana (17 competitive games)
The Brazilian central defender dared to switch to Ruhrpott rivals Schalke in 2013. From there he first went on loan to Piraeus before going to Russia and Brazil. After a season at Clube Atlético Mineiro, he took a two-year break in 2018, then joined Chapecoense again in the second division. This was followed by another year’s break before he was hired by Clube Atlético Catarinense in January 2023, played three games and finally ended his career in March.
full-back
Lukasz Piszczek (45 competitive games)
The right-back was a regular at Borussia Dortmund for a long time, was retrained as a central defender in 2019/20 and acted as captain for a long time in the second half of the season. But in the following season he was only a supplementary player and in the summer of 2021 he moved to his Polish homeland to Goczalkowice-Zdroj, in whose neighboring town he was born. He lets his career end in peace with the fourth division team.
Kevin Grosskreutz (43 competitive games)
Together with Hummels he became world champion in 2014, but didn’t play a single game. In 2015 he went to Galatasaray and from there to VfB Stuttgart. Kevin Großkreutz got into a fight with the Swabians, then joined SV Darmstadt 98. After a year he moved to KFC Uerdingen. He has been playing in the Oberliga at TuS Bövinghausen since 2021 – in the summer he will go down one league level and join SV Wacker Obercatrop in Westfalenliga 2 (6th league level).
Marcel Schmelzer (37 competitive games)
Like Piszczek, the left-back stayed with BVB for a long time, even longer than the Pole. However, Marcel Schmelzer lost his regular place in the 2018/19 season after persistent injury problems, and he only played a little when he was healthy. After a knee operation, “Schmelle” missed the entire 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons injured – and ended his career the following summer without another assignment.
Patrick Owomoyela (12 competitive games)
A year after the double, he left Dortmund, was without a club for a short time and then played in the HSV reserve team for another six months. Then came the end of his career in 2014 and years later he returned to Dortmund. At BVB he works as a club representative and in the marketing department.
Chris Löwe (11 competitive games)
He also left a year after the double win and joined Kaiserslautern. From 2016, the left-back played for Huddersfield Town. After relegation from the Premier League, he went to Dynamo Dresden. After being without a club for a few months in the summer of 2022, he joined Chemnitzer FC.
Central midfielders
Sebastian Kehl (39 competitive games)
In 2015, the longtime captain ended his career at BVB. Sebastian Kehl had been head of the licensed player department at Borussia Dortmund since 2018 and took over as sports director from Michael Zorc in the summer of 2022. So he is the only one besides Hummels to also be part of the possible champion squad of 2023, albeit no longer as an active player.
Ilkay Gundogan (36 competitive games)
Ilkay Gündogan stayed at BVB for four more years after the double win before he joined star trainer Pep Guardiola at Manchester City in 2016. With the Skyblues he has now won the Premier League title for the fifth time in six seasons and is in the Champions League final for the third time in his career. In 2013 he lost with BVB against Bayern, in 2021 with ManCity against Chelsea. Now it should be the first handle pot on June 10 against Inter Milan.
Sven Bender (32 competitive games)
At that time, Sven Bender was the sweeper in midfield. In 2017 he moved to Bayer Leverkusen and played there with his brother Lars until 2021, when they both ended their active professional careers together. Since then they have been playing together near home at TSV Brannenburg in the district class. Sven Bender has also been an assistant coach in Germany’s U16 national team since the summer of 2022.
Moritz Leitner (23 competitive games)
The breakthrough did not succeed for the midfielder at BVB. Since 2013, Moritz Leitner has played for VfB Stuttgart, Lazio Rome, FC Augsburg, Norwich City and FC Zurich. In the summer of 2022, Leitner and the Swiss parted ways – since then the 30-year-old has been looking for a club.
Florian Kringe (2 competitive games)
After the double he went to FC St. Pauli, where Kringe played for two more years and then ended his career. He is currently working as a player consultant for the agency PRO Profil, which represents Manuel Neuer, among others.
Attacking midfielder
Shinji Kagawa (43 competitive games)
Shinji Kagawa tried his hand at a bigger club (Manchester United) and then came back to Dortmund. But only for a limited time. After stations in Besiktas and Thessaloniki, he moved to VV St. Truiden in Belgium in January 2022. He stayed there for a year, in 2023 he went back to his old club Cerezo Osaka in Japan and is a regular there.
Mario Götze (26 competitive games)
A year after the double, Mario Götze made himself the number one hate object at Borussia Dortmund – he switched to the rival in Munich. But after three years he returned to BVB. In terms of sport, however, he was no longer happy there and went to PSV Eindhoven in the Eredivisie in 2020. There he really blossomed under Roger Schmidt, fought his way back to his best form and switched to reigning Europa League winners Eintracht Frankfurt in the summer of 2022, where he is a permanent fixture in the squad and was able to play in the Champions League. He should have an exit clause for the coming transfer summer.
Antonio da Silva (6 competitive games)
A year after the double, da Silva was still there – in the 2nd division at MSV Duisburg. Then the 44-year-old Brazilian ended his career.
winger
Jakub Blaszczykowski (40 competitive games)
In 2015 he left BVB on loan to Florence before moving permanently to Wolfsburg in 2016. In February 2019 he returned to his financially troubled first professional club Wisla Kraków – where “Kuba” still plays for free today. However, due to a cruciate ligament rupture, he was out of action for the entire 2022/23 season and only made his comeback on May 20, 2023, with a seven-minute substitution.
Ivan Perisic (41 competitive games)
After a stint at VfL Wolfsburg, where he won his second DFB Cup in 2015, Ivan Perisic moved to Inter in 2015. 19/20 went on loan to the Bundesliga for a year; he won his second German championship with FC Bayern and won the Champions League as an important regular player. He then returned to Inter, played there for two years and went to Tottenham Hotspur in England in the summer of 2022.
centre-forward
Robert Lewandowksi (47 competitive games)
Just like Götze and Hummels, Robert Lewandowksi was drawn to Munich. There he scored endless goals and broke Gerd Müller’s season record of 40 goals. In the summer of 2022 he moved to FC Barcelona in a dramatic transfer chaos. There he won the Spanish Championship and the Super Cup in his first season. In the Champions League, however, Barça were disappointedly eliminated in the group stage; in the Europa League in the intermediate round against Manchester United it was over immediately.
Lucas Barrios (25 competitive games)
The Paraguayan striker left BVB after the double and became a migratory bird. Countries he has played in since then: China, Russia, France, Brazil, Argentina and Chile. The next stop was Paraguay in January 2023 – the 38-year-old has not stayed with any team for more than a year and a half. In general, his three years at BVB are the longest in a row at the same club.
Mohamed Zidan (3 competitive games)
He wasn’t allowed to celebrate the double because he left BVB for his former club Mainz during the winter break. The following summer, Mohamed Zidan went to the United Arab Emirates and later to his home country of Egypt. In 2016 Zidan ended his active career. He has been club president at Egyptian military club Zed FC since 2020.
Trainer
Jürgen Klopp
The champion coach left Borussia Dortmund at his own request in 2015 after a disappointing season (especially in the first half of the season) including the loss of the cup final against Wolfsburg. In the same year he then joined Liverpool FC – and has worked for the Reds for eight years. In 2019 he won the Champions League, in 2020 he broke Manchester City’s dominance and won the Premier League championship. The FA Cup and Carabao Cup followed in 2022. But in the current season he is not without controversy and is experiencing a comparatively disappointing time. For the first time since 2016, Liverpool will not play in the premier league next season.
