Borussia Dortmund are set to mark the return of a full capacity turnout at Signal Iduna Park by wearing a special “Danke” shirt in their Bundesliga clash with RB Leipzig on Saturday.
It has been over 750 days since the German giants last saw their famous home welcome 80,000-plus spectators through its doors.
With Covid-19 restrictions now being lifted, Dortmund have revealed that as a “token of gratitude” they will be donning jerseys that feature the names of all 987 of the club’s official fan clubs.
What does the special Dortmund shirt look like?
What have Dortmund’s attendances been this season?
With capacity restrictions in place throughout the 2021-22 season, Dortmund have seen their attendance figures vary wildly in the current campaign.
In the early weeks of the Bundesliga schedule, 25,000 spectators were permitted at Signal Iduna Park.
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That figure was increased gradually until peaking at 66,709 for a meeting with Koln on October 30, 2021.
Only 15,000 were allowed in by the time Bayern Munich took in a Klassiker clash with their arch-rivals on December 4, while just 750 fans made it through the turnstiles against Freiburg in January.
After being nudged back up to 10,000, some 33,000 supporters watched a 1-0 win over Arminia Bielefeld on March 13.
BVB will be back at full capacity for their next outing on home soil, with head coach Marco Rose delighted to have “the most important” person back at his disposal – a 12th man in the stands.
He has said: “The fact that everyone can come back, that we have a full house, that the Ultras are returning - we're really looking forward to it.
“Our captain Marco Reus has been walking through the dressing room with an enchanted smile for days. We can look forward to a great atmosphere and want to use that to our advantage.”
Victory over Leipzig would help to keep Dortmund in the Bundesliga title hunt, as they sit six points behind defending champions Bayern at present, but star striker Erling Haaland is nursing another knock picked up on international duty with Norway.
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