Borussia Dortmund Football Formation

Starting Lineup

Borussia Dortmund plays a vertical style of football designed to exploit spaces behind the opposition defense. The team relies on a 5-2-3 formation to maintain a solid base while preparing to strike. This lineup focuses on quick transitions and winning the ball in central areas to catch opponents out of position. The goal is to recover possession and move through the thirds with speed.

Kobel guards the goal and acts as the primary shot stopper. The defensive unit functions as a back five where Can sits in the middle to organize the line and clear the lines. Skriniar plays as the left centre-back and Anton takes the right centre-back role to provide cover. Bensebaini and Ryerson act as attacking wing backs that push high to provide width during attacks. When the team is out of possession, they can sit deep or form a mid-block to deny the turn of opposing attackers.

The midfield consists of Brandt and Sabitzer, who manage the central zone as a midfield engine room. Brandt works to connect the defensive unit to the attacking line and moves to find pockets of space between the lines. Sabitzer drives forward with the ball to carry it into the final third. They work to squeeze the space in the middle and protect the center of the pitch. This pairing is tasked to win the second ball and quickly switch play to the wide areas.

Up front, the team uses three attackers to stretch the defense. Beier leads the line as a lone striker who aims to hold up the ball and link up with his teammates. Malen and Adeyemi act as inverted wingers who cut inside to create central threats. They look to hit in behind on the transition to exploit high lines. The wing backs, Bensebaini and Ryerson, overlap the wingers to get to the byline and whip it in toward the goal.

The formation offers several tactical advantages, such as numerical superiority in the defensive line. This provides compactness when defending in a mid-block or a low block. The Dortmund team also creates wide overloads when Bensebaini and Ryerson push high to support the attackers. Speed of transition is a primary weapon because Adeyemi and Malen use their pace to break quickly and punish teams on the counter.

This 5-2-3 formation is a vertical system built for teams that want to defend deep and strike with pace. It is best suited for matches against opponents that play with a high line and leave significant space behind the defense.