The Borussia Dortmund players commenced their preparations for the 2023/24 season on Wednesday. The first day of training was dominated by performance diagnostics. “We’re delighted that it’s getting under way again and that we’ll be back on the pitch in the next few days. The break was long enough,” said captain Marco Reus.

The first BVB players returned to the Hohenbuschei training centre at 8 o’clock in the morning to undergo the compulsory performance diagnostics at the start of the season. The players’ fitness was assessed throughout the day – not at the TU Dortmund like in previous years, but exclusively at the training ground. “The performance diagnostics are the prerequisite for training management and injury prevention. We want to cover these two elements with various testing procedures that we can now do here in Brackel,” explained Dr. Mathias Kolodziej, the head of sports science at BVB, who took charge along with the athletics coaches. “We know the risk factors for injuries, which we try to map with various tests. These include sports medicine, sport-specific tests and physical tests in order to create a profile for the player so we can work on the areas that need attention as individually as possible.”

Mateu Morey was one of the first players to arrive at the training ground in the morning. He was followed by Julien Duranville and Soumaila Coulibaly, who were the first duo to be led through the various stops by the coaches. Morey and Duranville had already trained with the U23s last week; now it was all about strength, mobility and balance for them – and the other players. They completed jumping, resistance and balance exercises. Finally, the sweat flowed during a lactate test which was conducted on the treadmill in order to test the limits and fitness of the players. Everything was measured and recorded in databases to create individual numerical profiles for each player, which will be used as a framework for normal training.

Internationals absent

The players were already working according to individual training plans on their holidays – although holiday is actually the wrong word. “We call it the off-season. The players need to recover, the body needs to regenerate. But the body also has to prepare for football training,” Kolodziej said, adding: “Based on the values we collect at the end of a season, the players get a complete programme to work through at home which covers not only endurance but strength too.”

The players who were in action with their national teams in June will catch up on the performance diagnostics in July along with Sebastien Haller, who is on an extended holiday. The recently injured trio of Youssoufa Moukoko, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens and Karim Adeyemi completed an individual programme.

The first team training session of the new season will take place on Thursday when the team return to the training pitch for the first time. The first friendly fixture of pre-season will take place in a week: BVB are away to Westfalia Rhynern on 12 July (kick-off at 18:00 CET).
Christina Reinke