1
Goal
Gregor
Kobel

With the BVB since

30.06.21

Birthday

06.12.97 (26)

Nationality

Switzerland

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Gregor Kobel

The 25-year-old Swiss has been under contract with Borussia Dortmund since July 2021. The goalkeeper made 75 appearances for BVB in all competitions by June 2023 (cut-off date for all information).

Gregor Kobel: A wall in goal

Gregor Kobel kept a clean sheet in every third (26) of these 75 appearances. In his first Bundesliga season at BVB (2021/22), the 1.95-metre-tall goalkeeper thwarted eleven big chances, in his second year it was ten. He saved a strong 74 per cent of shots on goal in 2022/23. His previous best had been 68 per cent (2020/21 in Stuttgart). He kept a clean sheet in eleven of his 26 Bundesliga games last season; only Freiburg's Mark Flekken (13 times) and Wolfsburg's Koen Casteels (twelve times) managed to do so more often.

Kobel's secret: How he sees through the strikers

‘Over time, you get a feel for how a striker thinks, whether you might wait a little longer to react or offer something,’ reveals the keeper. He has excellent control of the penalty area, as well as footballing qualities and endeavours to open up the game in a controlled, yet offensive manner. He reacts well on the line and, above all, is consistent in his performances. And: his development is constantly on the up.

Feared early on: Kobel's career before BVB

‘Brilliant save’ and ‘Kobel’. If you search on the BVB website, you'll find what you're looking for early on. The talented goalkeeper was first mentioned on 29 May 2016, annoying the attackers of Borussia Dortmund's U19s in the final of the German A-Youth Championship against TSG Hoffenheim. The final score was 5:3 because BVB had an even more outstanding player in its ranks in Felix Passlack than TSG in the person of Gregor Kobel, who was 18 at the time. And on 1 March 2019 you can read: ‘1:2 in Augsburg: Only Alcácer overcomes Kobel’. Kobel, then in the service of FCA, saved eight of the nine shots on goal from the Dortmund attackers in this match and thus qualified for the ‘Eleven of the Day’ in Kicker.

A goalkeeper with vision: Kobel's move to BVB

Kobel moved to Germany in 2014 as a 16-year-old with TSG Hoffenheim and joined BVB in 2021 after spells at Augsburg and Stuttgart. ‘It was always about developing myself further and I deliberately sought out pressure situations. Especially in my position in goal, experience and dealing with pressure are very important factors, and they don't just come to you. The more pressure situations you survive, the more mature you become. But everything else has happened. Hoffenheim - Augsburg - Stuttgart, that was a logical development. The move to Dortmund was a big step and now we'll see what happens next,‘ he said in the members’ magazine Borussia (January 2022 issue).

Born into a family of athletes: Gregor Kobel's roots

The son of a former ice hockey first division professional was born in Zurich on St Nicholas' Day in 1997 and trained at Grasshopper Club. He moved to TSG Hoffenheim's youth academy in 2014 at the age of sixteen. After his first appearances with the professionals under coach Julian Nagelsmann (mostly in the DFB Cup), the substitute for regular goalkeeper Oliver Baumann was loaned to FC Augsburg in January 2019, where he played 16 of 17 possible matches in the latter part of the season. In the summer of 2019, he moved again, again on loan, to the then second-division club VfB Stuttgart. He was promoted to the Bundesliga with the club a year later. Now permanently signed, Kobel was the Swabians' number one goalkeeper in the 2020/21 season. In its ranking, kicker listed him as the fourth-best goalkeeper.

On the international stage: Kobel's path to the Swiss national team

Kobel was part of the Swiss squad for the 2021 European Championship and made his debut for the senior national team in the 2-1 win over Greece on 1 September 2021. He was also involved in the 2022 World Cup.

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