Player of the Season nominees: Rocco Reitz

Moritz Nicolas, Rocco Reitz, Robin Hack and Franck Honorat have all been nominated for our Player of the Season for 2023/24, presented by Cichon Personalmanagement. Today, we take a closer look at Rocco Reitz’ season.

Rocco Reitz is one of four Borussia players nominated for our Player of the Season for 2023/24. No Gladbach player won more Player of the Month awards than Reitz did last campaign with four. In November, the midfielder was handed the title with 73 percent of the vote. The youngster beat out competition from Alassane Plea (18 percent) and Moritz Nicolas (9 percent) in the vote in the FohlenApp. Reitz impressed in November not only with his tackling and physical style of play, but also his goalscoring. The 21-year-old recorded the first Bundesliga goal of his career in the 4-0 win over VfL Wolfsburg, and then went on to net the opener against Borussia Dortmund the following game.

Rocco Reitz remained one of the Foals’ key players over the rest of the season too. The 21-year-old has been living many football fans’ dream. Reitz has been a Foals supporter since childhood, and spent time as a player escort and a spectator at BORUSSIA-PARK. He has been in the youth academy since 2009, and came through all of the club’s youth teams into the professional side.

In a season when the Foals were often plagued with injuries, Reitz was one of the few exceptions. The midfielder featured in all 34 Bundesliga games, 71 percent as a starter. He also played in three out of four possible DFB-Pokal matches. No Borussia man played more minutes. The academy product contested 589 individual battles – the most in the squad – and impressed in particular with his physicality on the field. Reitz didn’t just shine defensively though, and was also an energetic presence in attack, scoring six goals and assisting three more in his 34 games.

In November 2023, Reitz made his debut for the Germany U21 side in a European Championship qualifying game against Estonia, and marked the occasion by netting twice in a 4-1 win. His performances also clearly didn’t escape the notice of senior team head coach Julian Nagelsmann, as the 21-year-old was recently invited to train with the Germany squad in their camp ahead of the EUROs on home soil.

Rocco Reitz is up against Moritz Nicolas, Robin Hack and Franck Honorat in the vote for Borussia’s Player of the Season. You can vote now for your pick in the ‘Umfrage’ section of the FohlenApp until Sunday, 2nd June at 23:59 CEST.