Borussia Dortmund's managing director Lars Ricken is relishing the prospect of facing regional rivals FC Schalke again in the Bundesliga after they secured promotion back to top-flight after three years in the second division.
The Royal Blues won 2.Bundesliga in the 2025-26 season at a canter, finishing eight points clear at the top and losing just six games from 34 as they are now set to play in the first tier next season for the first time since 2023.
That means the Revierderby between Schalke and Dortmund returns to Bundesliga, reigniting the Ruhr valley rivalry after it had gone cold over the last couple of years. Niko Kovac's side will have more than just competing with Bayern Munich for the title as regional supremacy is also back on the line now.
Ricken though sounded confident of his side's chances while graciously welcoming Schalke back to Bundesliga. Speaking to German news outlet SPORT BILD, he said:
""I wasn’t sitting in front of the TV anxiously crossing my fingers, but we’ll look forward to the derbies. Their promotion has an effect […] It’s very good for the Bundesliga that Schalke are back.""as quoted on Bundesliga's website
What is Revierderby?
The Revierderby is one of the most fiercely contested derbies in German football between Borussia Dortmund and Schalke, two of the most successful teams from the Ruhr valley region of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Origins of Revierderby
The Revierderby was originally played on 3 May 1925 when Schalke beat Dortmund 4-2 but their rivalry intensified after the creation of Gauliga, the highest tier of football in Germany from 1933 to 1945. But Schalke remained a dominant force during this period too, winning 14 of their 16 clashes and losing just once.
Revierderby head-to-head record
Till date, there has been 160 meetings between Borussia Dortmund and Schalke, with the Royal Blues taking the cake on 60 occasions and 56 spoils going for the BVB. But in recent times, it's the latter who have held a dominant record, winning four of their last five official encounters and losing only two of their last 15 games.
Biggest scorelines of Revierderby
The biggest margin ever produced between Dortmund and Schalke was the epic 10-0 win for Die Knappen in October 1940, while the BVB's biggest win over their rivals came a few years later when they beat Schalke 7-0 in February 1966.
It will be interesting to see when the rivals meet again once the fixture list for the 2026-27 Bundesliga campaign is out.
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