German Bundesliga soccer heavyweights Borussia Dortmund have published their financial results for the 2025-2026 financial year, headlined by a fall in most major categories as decreasing UEFA Champions League (UCL) coverage hurt the team.
Dortmund, which finished runners-up in the 2025-26 season, posted revenue of €460.5 million ($537.9 million), a decrease of 12.4% from the €526 million that it generated over the prior campaign (2024-25).
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That decrease came primarily down to the club’s failure to reach the UCL round-of-16, when a year prior the club made it to the quarter-finals, as well as the fact that the club’s participation in the lucrative FIFA Club World Cup competition fell under the 2024-25 accounts.
Overall, Dortmund made a net loss of €21.7 million over the period, down from a profit of €6.5 million a year prior, owing to the aforementioned revenue decrease, offset marginally by a €21.5 million increase in net player transfer revenue.
The results may paint a tough picture, and illustrate the importance of UCL revenues to most of Europe’s elite sides, but the management of the organization took a different tack.
Dortmund managing director Thomas Treß was positive when speaking on the results. Outlining a contrasting view of proceedings, he said: “The net loss of over €20 million is not satisfactory for us. At the same time, our equity remains at around €300 million, the equity ratio exceeds 50%, no new financial debt was incurred, and no overdraft lines were drawn upon."
Carsten Cramer, the club’s chief executive and a spokesperson from the management board, added: “We actively used the complicated, challenging, and extremely complex past season to work on our structural deficits, identify strong growth potential even more clearly, and position BVB to be even more independent of transfer activities and better prepared for the future. We've emerged from last season stronger than ever."
Indeed, advertising (sponsorship) revenue was one area where the club experienced year-on-year growth, from €153.6 million up to €157.9 million, which is attributed to a number of prominent new sponsors that joined the club’s partnership network (of over 500 businesses) across the season.
This includes new primary sponsor Vodafone, which struck a five-year front-of-shirt agreement, and the addition of domestic supermarket chain Rewe as their new training kit sponsor on a deal worth approximately €15 million.
For the 2026-27 season, the club is internally forecasting a financial break-even, with an upper-limit projection of €10 million in net profit, which will require a good showing on the pitch on the continent well past the turn of the year.
The upcoming campaign will also be notable as the final year of the club’s controversial partnership with arms manufacturer and defense technology firm Rheinmetall.
Dortmund announced Rheinmetall as a “champion partner,” the club’s highest sponsorship tier, in late May 2024, and faced almost immediate opposition to the deal from the club’s vocal fanbase.
In November 2024, the club’s members voted to end the Rheinmetall agreement at the earliest possible juncture, which in this case is following the contract’s expiry at the end of the 2026-27 season, after which Dortmund will need to find another lucrative business to fill the void in its top sponsorship tier.
To that end, the club will likely need a strong showing in the UCL this time around to continue to impress the club’s continental prominence on prospective sponsors.
