Club Brugge v Dortmund facts

Back in the group stage for the second time in three seasons, Club Brugge will be keen to make a positive start as they welcome Borussia Dortmund to Belgium with the visitors looking to improve after an early elimination in 2017/18.

• The Belgian side have never reached the UEFA Champions League knockout rounds and to have a chance of improving, must end a run of eight matches without victory in the competition proper – including six successive defeats in their most recent group stage campaign. Dortmund, meanwhile, failed to win in last season's group stage, also stretching their own run without a victory in the competition to eight games.

Previous meetings
• The teams have each won two of their previous four matches, all at home – but Club Brugge emerged victorious in both ties, both in dramatic circumstances.

• In the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round, each side won the home leg 2-1, sending the tie into a penalty shoot-out in Dortmund. Club Brugge emerged 4-2 victors and went on to the group stage, although they failed to progress further.

• The sides' first tie was particularly remarkable, Dortmund seizing control of their meeting in the 1986/87 UEFA Cup third round with a 3-0 first-leg success in West Germany – only for Club Brugge to score three times themselves in the Belgium return to force extra time. There goals from Franky Van der Elst and Leo Van der Elst (no relation), with the latter completing his hat-trick, sealed a spectacular comeback.

Form guide
Club Brugge
• Belgian champions for the 15th time in 2017/18, this is Club Brugge's second group campaign in three seasons, and their sixth overall. Before 2016/17 – when they lost every game to finish bottom of a group including Leicester, Porto and København – their previous participation had come in 2005/06.

• The Belgian side are without a win in their last ten UEFA Champions League fixtures, qualifying included (D1 L9).

• Group stage to final, Club Brugge's last win in the competition was a 3-2 home defeat of Rapid Wien in November 2005; their record since then is D1 L7. They have won only two of their last 12 fixtures in the UEFA Champions League proper (D1 L9).

• The Bruges club have won only one of their last nine fixtures against German clubs, home and away (D2 L6) – that 2003 defeat of Dortmund. They won seven of their first eight home matches against Bundesliga clubs, losing one, but that Dortmund success is the sole victory in the subsequent five (D2 L2).

• Runners-up to Liverpool in 1978, Club Brugge remain the only team from Belgium to have reached a European Cup final.

Dortmund
• Fourth in last season's Bundesliga, the German club are in the group stage for the third season running, and the seventh time in eight years – and they will be keen to improve on their 2017/18 campaign, having picked up only two points from their six fixtures. They went on to reach the UEFA Europa League round of 16, losing to Salzburg.

• Dortmund have won only one of their last 11 UEFA Champions League fixtures (D3 L7), a 4-0 home success against Benfica in the 2016/17 round of 16 second leg.

• The 3-2 home win against Atalanta in the UEFA Europa League round of 32 first leg was Dortmund's only European victory last season – and their sole success in their last 12 fixtures in continental competition (D4 L7).

• This is only the second time Dortmund have been drawn with a Belgian club in a UEFA Champions League section; they took four points off Anderlecht in 2014/15 (3-0 away, 1-1 home).

• BVB are without a win in six away UEFA Champions League matches (D2 L4), since a 2-1 victory at Sporting CP in October 2016.

• Dortmund have won on their last two visits to Belgium, having lost their first two games in the country.

Links and trivia
• Thomas Delaney scored in København's 4-0 win against Club Brugge in the 2016/17 group stage.

• Have played in Belgium:
Axel Witsel (Standard Liège 2006–11)
Abdou Diallo (Zulte Waregem 2016/17)

• Has played in Germany:
Saulo Decarli (Eintracht Braunschweig 2014–17)

• International team-mates:
Hans Vanaken, Jelle Vossen & Axel Witsel (Belgium)
Ethan Horvath & Christian Pulišić (United States)
Sofyan Amrabat & Achraf Hakimi (Morocco)

Latest news

Club Brugge
• Summer transfers
In: Karlo Letica (Hajduk Split), Siebe Schrijvers (Genk), Clinton Mata (Charleroi), Mats Rits (Mechelen), Luan Peres (Ituano), Arnaut Groeneveld (NEC Nijmegen), Matej Mitrović (Beşiktaş, loan made permanent), Sofyan Amrabat (Feyenoord)
Out: Jérémy Perbet (Charleroi), Jens Teunckens (Royal Antwerp), Jordi Vanlerberghe (Oostende, loan), Alexander Scholz (Midtjylland), Abdoulay Diaby (Sporting CP), Ahmed Touba (Leuven, loan), Ricardo van Rhijn (AZ Alkmaar), Sander Coopman (Oostende)

• Club Brugge won the Belgian Super Cup for the 15th time on 22 July in their own Jan Breydelstadion, beating Standard Liège 2-1 with goals from Hans Vanaken and Wesley.

• The Belgian champions are unbeaten in their first seven league games this season, picking up six wins; Jelle Vossen converted a last-minute penalty in Friday's 2-1 home win against Lokeren.

• Club Brugge have won their last five matches at the Jan Breydelstadion, including that Belgian Super Cup victory.

• Vanaken made his senior international debut in Belgium's 4-0 friendly win in Scotland on 7 September, replacing Eden Hazard after 56 minutes.

• Aged 30, Ruud Vormer made his first appearance for the Netherlands as a substitute during the 1-1 draw against Slovakia on 31 May. He now has four caps.

• Summer signing Clinton Mata is yet to make his Club Brugge debut having undergone groin surgery in late June.

Dortmund
• Summer transfers
In: Marius Wolf (Eintracht Frankfurt), Marwin Hitz (Augsburg), Thomas Delaney (Werder Bremen), Abdou Diallo (Mainz), Achraf Hakimi (Real Madrid, loan), Axel Witsel (Quanjian), Paco Alcácer (Barcelona, loan)
Out: Mikel Merino (Newcastle United), Dominik Reimann (Kiel), Roman Weidenfeller (retired), Gonzalo Castro (Stuttgart), Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Arsenal), Erik Durm (Huddersfield Town), André Schürrle (Fulham, loan), Andriy Yarmolenko (West Ham), Nuri Şahin (Werder Bremen)

• Dortmund reached the second round of the German Cup with a 2-1 extra-time win at 2. Bundesliga club Greuther Fürth on 20 August, new signing Axel Witsel scoring an added-time equaliser. Their opponents in the next round, in late October, are another second division side, Union Berlin.

• The win at Greuther Fürth is Dortmund's only away success in their last nine matches (D5 L3).

• Witsel also scored on his Bundesliga debut in Dortmund's 4-1 defeat of RB Leipzig on 26 August, Mahmoud Dahoud also getting his first goal for the club.

• Abdou Diallo, Marius Wolf and debutant Paco Alcácer also opened their scoring accounts for Dortmund in Friday's 3-1 home win against Eintracht Frankfurt.

• Ömer Toprak, Raphaël Guerreiro and Christian Pulišić are all sidelined by muscular injuries.

• Witsel made six appearances as Belgium finished third at this summer's FIFA World Cup.