While no current Borussia Dortmund player is active at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, we have a few former ones still repping it up at the tournament.
On Saturday, European powerhouses France and England lock horns for the bronze medal in third-place play-offs at the Miami Stadium.
The match pits two of our former stars against each other, as Ousmane Dembele and Jude Bellingham go up against each other in an exciting player battle.
Dembele, Bellingham never played together
Although Ousmane Dembele and Jude Bellingham share the Borussia Dortmund connect, they never played together at the club. While Dembele donned the Black and Yellow for just one season in 2016-17, his English counterpart only arrived at the club three years later and played for a longer time too.
Dembele and Bellingham's BVB stats
Now let's see how the stars fared at Dortmund. Dembele might have played for just one year, but the Frenchman made enough impact for Barcelona to splash €105 million on him in 2017, with the forward emerging as their creative wizard during his time there. He struck only 10 goals in 50 games, but made 21 assists in all competitions - more than any player in the Dortmund squad that season.
As for Bellingham, he announced himself to Europe with a series of eye-catching displays for Die Borussen. He joined in 2020 from Birmingham City at the age of 17 and gradually grew into an attacking menace, scoring 24 times and assisting 25 more from 132 games. Interestingly, the only trophy that both won during their time with Dortmund was the DFB Pokal, in 2017 and 2021 respectively.
Dembele and Bellingham at the FIFA World Cup
Speaking of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, both players have made a telling impact for their respective national teams: Ousmane Dembele is France's second top-scorer in the competition with five goals to his name, including a hat-trick against Norway in the group stages while Bellingham's six-goal exploits played a vital role in guiding England to the last-four.
Both players are expected to start on Saturday despite much lower stakes as their World Cup dreams are already over. The atmosphere surrounding the Miami clash will be one of lingering heartbreak rather than a celebration as the bronze medal is nothing more than a consolation prize for the teams participating. But with so much quality on display in both camps, we could still have a cracker on our hands here.
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