Niklas Süle

The 27-year-old defender has been under contract with Borussia Dortmund since July 2022. He previously played for FC Bayern Munich and made 41 appearances (2 goals / 4 assists) for BVB across all competitions by June 2023 (deadline for all information).

The decision to join Borussia Dortmund

He left the south for the south. As a 17-year-old, Niklas Süle - as a young player at TSG Hoffenheim - felt the force of the yellow wall for the first time. Nine years later, in the summer of 2022, he became a Black & Yellow player himself after moving from FC Bayern Munich to Borussia Dortmund. ‘There is no more emotional stadium in the world! And the fact that I now play for BVB means a lot to me,‘ he told the members’ magazine Borussia (July 2022 issue). Sporting Director Sebastian Kehl explained: ‘Niklas has shown us in personal talks that he has a great desire to play for Borussia Dortmund. He has a lot of experience, calmness in his build-up play and the necessary physicality to take the next step with us from the summer.’

Impressive statistics in his debut season

The defender lived up to the praise he received. He was heavily involved in the BVB game. An average of 88 ball contacts per 90 minutes was unrivalled by any other Borussian. He completed 93 per cent of his passes to his team-mates (BVB's best ever) and could have scored more than twice in his debut season in black and yellow had the post or crossbar not got in the way four times. No other Bundesliga player hit the woodwork more often in 2022/23. Despite his size, Niklas Süle is exceptionally fast. At 34.6 km/h, he almost reached his all-time top speed of 35.0 kilometres per hour.

Niklas Süle's remarkable career before BVB

Niklas Süle arrived in Dortmund with the experience of 222 Bundesliga games (114 for Munich, 108 for Hoffenheim), 35 Champions League games (all for Munich) and 40 senior internationals. He won the German championship five times (from 2018 to 2022), the DFB Cup twice (2019 and 2020) and the UEFA Champions League and FIFA Club World Cup once each (both in 2020). He won the Confederations Cup with the national team in 2017 and the silver medal with the Olympic team in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. ‘The final in the sold-out Maracana against Brazil was one of my greatest football experiences ever! We were there with a team that nobody thought we could beat, and yet we marched through to the final. The medal has a very special place in my home.’

Early years: from garden football to professional

Süle was born in Frankfurt am Main, grew up a little further south in Mörfelden-Walldorf (Groß-Gerau district) and has a brother (Fabian) who is three years older. His first club was Rot-Weiß Walldorf. GQ writes: ‘When the two of them were still children, Niklas seven, Fabian ten, things got heated at home in dad Georg's garden. ‘Our father put up a goal. Before we started, he watered the grass and said. ‘Now Anfield is ready. Now you can straddle each other,' recalls Niklas Süle. ‘Those were battles between the two of us. They didn't begrudge each other anything. They fought until their shins were green and blue. The brothers would duel again and again - pretending they were playing at the real Anfield Road, in Liverpool.’

Stages of a young career

At the age of just eleven, Niklas went to Eintracht Frankfurt (2006 to 2009), then to SV Darmstadt 98, where he only stayed for six months before moving to boarding school at TSG Hoffenheim at the beginning of 2010. ‘I left home at an early age, at 14, and moved to Hoffenheim's academy,’ he explains in the members' magazine Borussia (July 2022 issue): ’That was a very big step! As a youngster, you're already training like a professional and have to manage school at the same time.’                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Süle's unforgettable debut

Süle was promoted to Hoffenheim's second team for the 2012/13 season, where he made his first appearances in the Regionalliga Südwest and also played for the U19s. ‘I was in the middle of preparing for my secondary school leaving certificate and I remember sitting at lunch with the other lads when our coach Markus Gisdol told me: Niklas, you're playing tomorrow! In the Bundesliga! Against the great HSV! Amazing!’ Süle's Bundesliga debut on matchday 33 of the 2012/13 season ended in a 4-1 home defeat. In order to avoid direct relegation, his team had to win in Dortmund on the final matchday and were actually 2:1 ahead after two penalty goals in the closing stages, ‘and then I was substituted. With six minutes to go, for the current world star Roberto Firmino. You have to imagine that, in the most important game in the club's history up to that point in this cauldron, the coach throws me, a 17-year-old, into the fray.