The next champion is always called Bayern Munich and at Borussia Dortmund it’s always Kids Day. Some things just don’t change. Just the names. Jude Bellingham is currently towering, transfer value well over 100 million euros and hope of an entire country. He will change soon.
Last Sunday was “BVB Kids Day” at Dortmund Zoo. The next day was “Teenager Day” at London’s Wembley Stadium. 19-year-old Jew Bellingham became a nation’s beacon of hope. More on that later. Because everything is always connected to everything else and in Dortmund everything is connected to Borussia.
In addition to the well-loved mascot Emma, ??trainer Edin Terzic also made an appearance at Kids Day. International break, autumn had come and soon most families would refrain from visiting the zoo. The weather was too inhospitable, the couch too inviting, and Borussia’s schedule too tight. And in Dortmund there is only one club. They will always be Borussia, the fans sing with good reason. You have no choice. They’re not the players who move out into the world from Dortmund. You are from Dortmund.
Like coach Edin Terzic. Although he is from Sauerland, he is also from Dortmund. Terzic was happy on Sunday. He beamed at the camera. “A great honour”, he thought, was the visit to the zoo, where he was also able to sponsor “the coolest animals”, the giraffes Zikomo, Penda and Maoli. Forget the days when the then midfield star and current sports director Sebastian Kehl sponsored the lion baby Kehli or Kevin Großkreutz sponsored the Malayan tapir boy Kevin Mogli. The animals now keep their names. But otherwise nothing changes. BVB lives the city and Kids Day at Dortmund Zoo has long been a tradition.
Not quite as much tradition, after all it’s been 17 years of Kids Day, has the cutting and stabbing at the best Dortmund young professionals. Year after year, one of the players rises from the crowd of good players and makes himself interesting for the really big clubs in the world. Then, after some excitement, they switch. Ousmane Dembélé to Barcelona, ??Christian Pulisic to Chelsea, Jadon Sancho to Manchester United and of course Erling Haaland to Manchester City. The club that once fed FC Bayern has become a club that feeds the super clubs.
That has long been part of Dortmund’s business model. These proceeds have not only enabled BVB to weather a number of failures in the transfer market, but have also built a solid, if not the best, reputation as a developer of European football’s greatest talents. If you shine at Borussia Dortmund, you can sit back and sort through the offers. He only needs good advisors and enough distance from the future, because the present is not unimportant. Fortunately, the present is still happening on the pitch.
Jude Bellingham, who is still only 19, is proving that this can be done. In the summer of 2020, he moved from the English Championship, the second division in England, to the top division in Germany for an almost unbelievable 25 million euros. He had just secured relegation with his hometown club Birmingham City when he quickly rose to become the crowd favorite in the then deserted Westfalenstadion.
First on the end devices and then also in front of the fully occupied ranks in the Dortmund stadium after the most urgent phase of the pandemic. The third BVB captain is celebrated with an elongated “Jew”, but is by no means as much the focus as the extraterrestrial striker Haaland did in his short time in front of spectators.
The summer 2020 transfer was the result of a long effort to keep the promise made at the time. Even then, he not only turned BVB’s head, but many clubs in Europe. Liverpool FC was among them, Manchester United even perceived themselves to have reached an agreement with Bellingham, Chelsea were hoping for him and Real Madrid also had the midfielder in their notebooks for a long time. It was also Bayern Munich’s turn, trying to slide into the change with a late offer. In vain!
Like the efforts of national defender Nico Schlotterbeck in the international match against England. The Dortmunder caused the third penalty in only his fifth international match when he tried to get the ball in front of his club colleague. After this scene, his place in the German World Cup squad is no longer so certain. Bellingham is one step further. He also towered for the Three Lions for the first time. When the situation seemed hopeless after Kai Havertz made it 2-0, he took control of the game.
In the first half, Bellingham had just eight ball contacts in the German half, in the second it was 28. He pushed the game forward, setting a sign with a foul on Joshua Kimmich. From zero ball contacts in the German penalty area until he was substituted shortly before the end, six and a penalty won. Wembley celebrated him with a standing ovation, the English press with top marks. The otherwise meaningless test turned a 19-year-old into the hope of a whole nation.
“In his best moments, the carefree attitude of his age mixed with the overwhelming power of his ability is intangible but as powerful as a slap in the face. He is then no longer part of the team, but nothing less than the lifeline of the team “, wrote “Inews”: “The standing ovation was not only for the fact that he was England’s best player, but also for his limitless potential and what he stands for: the power of dreams!
He also shows all of that at Borussia Dortmund. It is still a diamond in the rough, it has not yet been polished. But this promise drives the whole of Europe crazy. The media have been outdoing each other with their rumors for weeks. In Spain it is said that Real Madrid prevented Bellingham’s contract extension at BVB. They are in pole position in the crazy race for the young Englishman.
In England, some report Liverpool’s huge interest, while others are certain: Erling Haaland will bring his friend to Manchester City. They are even said to have exchanged text messages. For city coach Pep Guardiola, it is said on the German tabloids, Bellingham is the successor to Kevin de Bruyne. A bizarre notion. But can change. An offer should not have been received yet.
At BVB they are left out. There will soon even be attempts to extend the contract, otherwise he will just become Dortmund’s next 100 million man. That has almost as much tradition as the BVB Kids Day in Dortmund Zoo. It’s once a year, and once a year BVB releases a young star. Sometimes his name is Erling, sometimes Christian or Jadon and maybe soon a Jew. Until then, however, one of the greatest promises in football is still playing in the Bundesliga.
Incidentally, the lion baby Kehli was moved to the Avilon Zoo in the Philippines on April 29, 2010 as part of renovation work at the Dortmund Zoo. Also traveling with him was another baby lion named Dede. Malayan tapir pup Kevin Mogli moved to Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland on 8 May 2012 as part of the European Conservation Breeding Scheme.
