Nico Schlotterbeck's Road to Recovery: Dortmund's Defensive Hope

Borussia Dortmund are still waiting for their defensive cornerstone to walk back through the door.

Nico Schlotterbeck has missed the whole of pre-season and the Franz Beckenbauer Supercup with the ankle injury that cut short his World Cup. He has not played a competitive minute since 20 June, when he went down in Germany’s second group game of the FIFA World Cup 2026 against Ivory Coast – a moment that ended his tournament and reshaped Dortmund’s plans for the start of 2026/27.

Now 26 and deep into rehab, Schlotterbeck has finally lifted the lid on what he is going through.

“It’s basically a long, drawn‑out story,” he told Sky, a blunt summary of a summer spent in treatment rooms instead of on the pitch. “It wasn’t easy at the World Cup. At first, I thought it wasn’t that bad and kept playing.”

That decision came at a cost. While Germany moved on without him, Dortmund’s staff had to redraw their defensive blueprint. When training restarted in mid-July, there was still a sense that the centre-back might make it back around the first international break in September or October. Internally, the hope was for a return shortly before or just after that window.

One thing was already clear: there would be no Schlotterbeck for the Franz Beckenbauer Supercup showdown with Bayern Munich. The club’s left-sided rock would have to watch their fiercest rivals from the stands.

The optimism around his recovery remains, but Schlotterbeck refuses to stick a date on his comeback.

“We have to take it day by day,” he said. “We’re trying to let it heal properly and do good work with the physios and the rehab coaches. Then I believe it won’t take much longer.”

Inside the club, his attitude has not gone unnoticed. Sporting director Ole Book has repeatedly highlighted how Schlotterbeck, along with injured captain Emre Can, has stayed plugged into the group.

“I see both of them fully motivated every day,” Book said earlier in the summer. “During their rehab, they both contribute enormously as leaders – to the team, to the togetherness, to the group. But how long it will take exactly, nobody can say – and certainly not me.”

So Dortmund wait. Their in-demand organiser at the back continues to grind through rehab sessions, his passing range and presence sorely missed. The next time he steps out in black and yellow, the question will not be whether he is still the leader of this defence – but how quickly he can drag it back up to his level.