Borussia Dortmund Plans New Multi-Purpose Arena Amid Mixed Emotions
Borussia Dortmund are preparing to reshape the area around the Westfalenstadion once again, committing to a new multi-purpose hall that underlines the club’s growing ambitions beyond men’s football – on a day when the mood around BVB was pulled sharply in three different directions.
A new hall in the shadow of the Südtribüne
According to Ruhr Nachrichten, Dortmund intend to invest between €15 and €20 million in a new venue close to the stadium, a project that has been discussed internally for years and is now finally moving into concrete planning.
The hall is set to become the home of the women’s handball team and the club’s table-tennis department, centralising elite indoor sport under the BVB umbrella in one location near the club’s football cathedral.
The board has already commissioned a planning firm to carry out a feasibility study and draft the first detailed designs. Talks with the city over purchasing and using the site are scheduled for May – a key step if the project is to move from blueprint to building site.
“We have decided at board level, and I am delighted about this and looking forward to it, that we will attempt to build the long-awaited sports hall ourselves,” club president Hans-Joachim Watzke is quoted as saying. “Everything relating to elite sport here in Dortmund should be concentrated there. The parking spaces are there, and the infrastructure for public transport is in place.”
For a club that has long prided itself on its fan culture and footballing identity, the move signals a broader sporting footprint – and a clear statement that BVB’s women’s and indoor sports are no longer content to live in the shadows.
Guirassy scare before Hoffenheim trip
On the training pitch, the mood was very different.
Serhou Guirassy was forced out of Tuesday’s session after taking a heavy knock to his ankle, raising immediate doubts over his availability for Saturday’s trip to TSG Hoffenheim.
Social-media footage showed the striker struggling to continue after around an hour of work. Following a sliding tackle from centre-back Nico Schlotterbeck that appeared to catch his ankle, Guirassy needed treatment on the pitch before leaving with his ankle bandaged and heading straight to the dressing room.
For a side already under scrutiny after the 0-1 home defeat to Bayer 04 Leverkusen, the prospect of losing a key attacking weapon before a tricky away game is the last thing coach and club needed. As it stands, it remains unclear whether Guirassy will recover in time for the weekend.
Kabar’s future up in the air
Behind the first team, another decision is looming.
BVB will soon sit down with young defender Almugera Kabar to discuss his next step. Ruhr Nachrichten report that the hierarchy plan to meet the 19-year-old shortly to define his future role – though indications from within the club suggest he is unlikely to stay beyond the summer.
Kabar has been a standout for the reserve side in the Regionalliga West. Operating mainly as a left-back, he has scored six goals in 16 appearances and added an assist, an impressive return for a defender and a clear sign of his attacking instincts.
At first-team level, though, opportunities have been scarce. So far in the 2025/26 season he has made just one appearance, coming on for Julian Ryerson for the final 15 minutes of the 0-1 loss to Leverkusen last weekend. For a player at his age and stage, the question is obvious: stay and wait, or move and play?
Dortmund must now decide whether Kabar is part of their long-term plan, or another talented academy product who will have to seek his breakthrough elsewhere.
Tragedy on the Südtribüne
All of this plays out against a sombre backdrop.
The Borussia Dortmund supporter who required emergency resuscitation at Signal Iduna Park on Saturday has died, the club confirmed on Tuesday. The man collapsed in the Südtribüne during the defeat to Leverkusen and was rushed to Dortmund Hospital, where he passed away later that day, according to Ruhr Nachrichten.
“It is with great sadness that Borussia Dortmund has learnt that the BVB fan who received emergency medical treatment at the stadium last Saturday has died,” the club wrote. “In these difficult hours, the thoughts of the entire BVB family are with his family and friends.”
The incident cast a shadow over the second half at Signal Iduna Park. A few minutes after the restart, both sets of supporters briefly fell silent as they realised the seriousness of the situation unfolding in the stands. By the final whistle, the stadium was united in song, with home and away fans together singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone”.
A stadium announcement had informed those present that the supporter had been resuscitated and taken to hospital. The news of his death now hangs heavily over a club that is used to living on raw emotion, but not this kind.
A new hall, an injury worry, a young talent at a crossroads and a grieving fanbase – Dortmund stand once again at the point where sport, business and human life collide. How they respond, on and off the pitch, will shape far more than the next 90 minutes.
