Best ever Borussia Dortmund Shirts

Few clubs in world football wear their identity as loudly as Borussia Dortmund. That bright, unmistakable yellow and black has been terrifying visiting fans since long before Jürgen Klopp turned Signal Iduna Park into the loudest ground in Europe, and the shirts that have carried it have become some of the most collected in the vintage game.

We asked two of our regular contributors to make the case. Phil Delves puts it simply: Dortmund were doing the "special shirt for cup nights" trick back in the 90s before most clubs had worked out it was a good idea, and their run of Nike shirts from that decade is one of the best any manufacturer has produced for a single club. His favourite shirt of all time, full stop, is a Dortmund kit. Craig Easton takes us back further still, to the Die Continentale years and a shirt so luminously yellow it could stop traffic - worn by a Dortmund side stacked with players he grew up idolising.

Our sales data shows we've shipped Borussia Dortmund shirts to collectors across eight countries and four continents - the UK, Germany, the US, Canada, the UAE, Hong Kong, Singapore and Tunisia - proof that the Yellow Wall's reputation travels a lot further than Westfalenstadion.

Here's our take of the best Borussia Dortmund shirts ever

1994/95 Home Shirt - Nike

"You like teams who wear European kits. Dortmund are perhaps the most famous example of a team who releases a variation of their home shirt for use in European/cup competitions. It's a trend that dates back to the 90s, and as someone who loves shirts I always enjoy seeing how they tweak things year-on-year.

I don't need to tell you either that they wore an incredible array of Nike shirts in the 90s. My favourite shirt of all time is a Dortmund kit (1994 home), and on that basis alone they deserve your attention." - Phil Delves

Widely regarded as one of the great Nike templates of the decade, this shirt swapped a plain crew collar for a dropped, buttoned neck and finished the sleeves in a "feathered wings" pattern that still looks unlike anything else from the era. Karl-Heinz Riedle, Matthias Sammer, Andreas Möller and club legend Michael Zorc wore it to a Bundesliga title in 1994/95 - Dortmund's first championship in over 30 years - and for a lot of collectors (Phil included) it's simply the best Dortmund shirt ever made.

1996/97 Home Shirt - Nike

The shirt of Dortmund's greatest season. Part of Nike's "highlighter" series across its sponsored clubs, this neon-yellow home kit was worn as Ottmar Hitzfeld's side beat Juventus 3-1 in Munich to win the 1997 UEFA Champions League Final - Karl-Heinz Riedle scoring twice and teenager Lars Ricken adding a third within seconds of coming on. It remains the only Champions League triumph in the club's history, which alone makes this one of the most historically significant shirts on this list.

1997/98 Away Shirt - Nike 

Worn in the immediate afterglow of that Champions League win, as Dortmund went on to lift the Intercontinental Cup and UEFA Super Cup the same year. It's a quieter, more understated design than its predecessor, but it's popular with collectors because of the black and neon trim.

2001/02 Home Shirt 

A different era of Dortmund entirely - this one produced in-house through the club's own Goool.de kit brand rather than by an external manufacturer. Chunky black stripes broke up the yellow base, and Marcio Amoroso and Jan Koller led the line as Dortmund won their fourth Bundesliga title, the last German league title the club would win for almost a decade. A slightly under-the-radar shirt compared to the 90s classics, but a genuinely significant one for the trophy it was won in.

2012/13 Home BVB

The shirt of the Klopp golden generation. Classic black stripes on bright yellow, with "Echte Liebe" ("true love") stitched into the collar, this was the kit Robert Lewandowski, Mario Götze, Marco Reus and Ilkay Gündoğan wore as Dortmund knocked out Real Madrid in the semi-final and reached the 2013 Champions League final at Wembley, narrowly losing 2-1 to Bayern Munich in an all-German final. It's the shirt that introduced a whole new generation of fans to the Yellow Wall.

What are the most popular Borussia Dortmund shirts?

Most popular player names on Dortmund shirts we've sold

Again, a small sample - but the two names that come through clearly line up exactly with the era our contributors highlight above.

Borussia Dortmund shirt orders by country

Where can I get an authentic, vintage Borussia Dortmund shirt from/ 

Every shirt like this deserves to be genuine - that neon Nike yellow is one of the most faked patterns in the vintage market, so buying from a specialist matters. Every Dortmund shirt we sell is checked for the correct crest construction, wash label and product code before it's listed, and comes flocked with official name sets rather than iron-on knockoffs. Listings include multiple close-up photos of tagging and stitching, not just a hanger shot, so you know exactly what you're getting before you buy. If you'd rather see it in the flesh, browse our full range of authentic Borussia Dortmund shirts here.