CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Why are Borussia Dortmund known as BVB?
The Bundesliga side will be participating in their third Champions League final on Saturday against favourites Real Madrid.
Saturday’s Wembley Stadium appearance for Borussia Dortmund will be the third time the German side grace the UEFA showpiece event after their debut win in 1997 over Juventus. Their second outing in the UCL final was an all Bundesliga affair and also staged at wembley in 2012 but a late Arjen Robben goal in the 89th minute was enough for Bayern to deny the side from the Ruhr with the pain from the defeat in north London still fresh in the minds of many Dortmund fans 12 years later.
Edin Terzić's side go into Saturday’s as clear underdogs with European Cup specialists Madrid looking to claim an incredible fifteenth European triumph but few expected the German side to reach this stage of the competition as they overcame Atletico Madrid and PSG on their way to Wembley.
Despite Real Madrid being firm favourites on Saturday, Dortmund will be the better supported side in London with more than 400,000 fans requesting tickets from the 19,000 UEFA allocation with thousands of BVB fans expected to make the journey to the English capital without tickets.
Why are Dortmund known as BVB?
Many observers will have noticed that the Borussia Dortmund club crest boasts the letters BVB with no reference to Dortmund in the acronym and these three letters are far from a straightforward abbreviation of the club’s name.
This shortened name comes from the full club title, which is ‘Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e.V. Dortmund.’ Breaking this down into English, it translates as: ‘Ball game club – Borussia – 1909 – registered association – Dortmund’. The latter part of the name refers to the city the club is situated in, while the ‘09′ section indicates the club was founded in 1909.