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Borussia Dortmund U23s promoted and ready – A closer look at the 3. Liga challenge that lies ahead

By Benjamin McFadyean

Borussia Dortmund II will play in the 3. Liga next season (Photo by Mario Hommes/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
Borussia Dortmund II will play in the 3. Liga next season (Photo by Mario Hommes/DeFodi Images via Getty Images) /
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Borussia Dortmund’s U23 team BVB II, or as Borussia fans call them ‘Die Amas’, won the Regionaliga West title in some style on Saturday, earning promotion to the 3. Liga. 

Borussia Dortmund U-23s had an outstanding season under head coach Enrico Maaßen (who against the odds won the title last season with an unfancied SV Rödinghausen side before making the switch to BVB), finishing the season with an impressive 93 points, scoring 94 goals and conceding just 31 and suffering just one defeat all season.

A remarkable achievement which the young squad can be proud of especially after overcoming a COVID-19 enforced quarantine and a last-minute challenge by second-placed RW Essen who finished three points behind the young Black and Yellows.

The promotion was won convincingly on the pitch, but was subject to an appeal which was heard on Wednesday by the Westdeutscherfussballverband (‘WDFV’), the regional football authority that oversees amateur football up to the Regionalliga-West (the fourth tier which in Germany is divided into 5 regions).

RW Essen, the 1955 German champions, had attempted to have the promotion overruled to their club’s advantage due to doubts arising about the number of players available to BVB II following the need to quarantine due to two positive COVID-19 tests in the squad.

The claim was also taken up by bottom of the table SV Bergisch-Gladbach whose 3-1 loss to BVB II earlier this month condemned them to relegation to the fifth tier. But as widely expected, this was struck out at the WDFV tribunal on Wednesday.

Although subject to a possible appeal from Bergisch-Gladbach, local sports newspaper Reviersport reports that the appeal would be ‘without any chance of success and merely about the principle’. BVB II was also reported as being the promoted team to 3. Liga by Kicker magazine, Germany’s most authoritative Football magazine.

Borussia Dortmund II are now set to play in the third division of German football next season. So here we take a look at what they can expect from what is considered to be one of the most competitive leagues in Europe.