Borussia Dortmund vs Celtic facts

Last season's UEFA Champions League runners-up Borussia Dortmund play their first home game in the 2024/25 competition against a Celtic side buoyed by an impressive Matchday 1 win.

The German club were 3-0 victors at Club Brugge in their first fixture – substitute Jamie Gittens scoring a late double – while Celtic recorded a 5-1 success at home to Slovan Bratislava, their biggest Champions League win.

Previous meetings

Matches 4
Dortmund wins 3
Celtic wins 1
Draws 0
Dortmund goals 6
Celtic goals 3

1987/88 UEFA Cup first round
Celtic 2-1 Dortmund
Dortmund 2-0 Celtic
BVB overturned a first-leg loss to progress 3-2 on aggregate, Celtic's Derek Whyte scoring an 88th-minute winner in Glasgow after Andy Walker's fourth-minute opener had been cancelled out by Frank Mill (64). A late double from Norbert Dickel (74, 86) in Dortmund gave the home side victory.

1992/93 UEFA Cup second round
Dortmund 1-0 Celtic
Celtic 1-2 Dortmund
BVB again progressed after winning both legs, Stéphane Chapuisat scoring the only goal in Germany and also equalising at Celtic Park after Gerry Creaney had given the home side an early lead; Michael Zorc got Dortmund's second-leg winner.

Form guide

Dortmund

Record vs Scottish clubs: W6 D5 L5 F20 A19
Home record vs Scottish clubs: W4 D3 L1

Dortmund's last six games against Scottish clubs have all come against Rangers, most recently a 4-6 aggregate loss in the 2021/22 UEFA Europa League knockout play-offs (2-4 h, 2-2 a). They managed only one victory in those six matches (D3 L2) having been victorious in their previous five matches against teams from Scotland.

That first-leg defeat by Rangers was Dortmund's first at home to Scottish visitors; they had won four of their previous five matches.

Dortmund are in the Champions League proper for the 19th time overall and the ninth successive season. All but two of their last 11 campaigns have now extended into the knockout rounds.

In 2023/24, Edin Terzić's team finished first in Group F ahead of Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan and Newcastle before beating PSV Eindhoven (3-1 aggregate) and Atlético de Madrid (5-4 agg) to set up a reunion with Paris in the last four. BVB won 1-0 both home and away to reach a third European Cup final, but Real Madrid proved too strong at Wembley, running out 2-0 winners.

Dortmund have won eight of their last 17 home European games (D6 L3).

European champions in 1997 and also runners-up in 2013, Dortmund have been eliminated in the last 16 in three of their last six Champions League campaigns.

BVB finished fifth in the Bundesliga in 2023/24, 27 points behind champions Leverkusen. It was their lowest league placing since finishing seventh in 2014/15.

Nuri Şahin replaced Terzić as coach in the summer.

Celtic

Record vs German clubs: W4 D5 L19 F20 A45
Away record vs German clubs: W0 D3 L11

Celtic lost 1-3 away and 0-2 at home to Leipzig in the 2022/23 group stage, making it four successive defeats against German clubs.

A 2-1 defeat of the same opponents on Matchday 4 of the 2018/19 UEFA Europa League is Celtic's only win in their last 15 games with Bundesliga clubs (D3 L11) and the only one of the last eight they have not lost.

The Hoops have never won in Germany, where they have lost their last four matches and nine of the last 11.

Celtic are in the Champions League proper for the 13th time and the third season running.

The Hoops were bottom of their section for the second season in a row in 2023/24, although they ended on a high with a 2-1 home win against Feyenoord – their first Champions League victory at Celtic Park since 2013.

Home and away, Celtic have now won four of their last 33 games in the Champions League proper (D6 L23).

Celtic have finished bottom of their section in four of their last five Champions League campaigns.

Celtic have won only one of their last 11 European away games, losing nine.

The first British club to win the European Cup in 1967, and runners-up to Feyenoord three years later, Celtic have reached the Champions League knockout stages three times. All those campaigns ended in the round of 16, most recently in 2012/13 against Juventus (0-3 h, 0-2 a).

Celtic claimed their 54th Scottish League title, and a 12th in 13 seasons, in 2023/24. Brendan Rodgers' side also won the Scottish Cup for a record 42nd time.

Links and trivia

Midfielders Julien Duranville of Dortmund and Celtic's Arne Engels both made their Belgium debuts as second-half substitutes in a 3-1 UEFA Nations League win against Israel on 6 September. The pair were both introduced in the 73rd minute.

Latest news

Dortmund

On Friday two Serhou Guirassy goals – making it 42 in 53 Bundesliga appearances since September 2022 – helped Dortmund to a 4-2 victory at home to Bochum.

On 22 September Dortmund lost 5-1 in Stuttgart, their heaviest defeat since going down 0-4 at home to Bayern München on 4 November 2023.

New signing Guirassy scored his first league goal for Dortmund at his former club Stuttgart, having also registered on Matchday 1 at Club Brugge.

Almugera Kabar suffered a broken nose on 22 September while playing for Dortmund's reserve team.

Giovanni Reyna has been on the sidelines since suffering a groin injury in training with the Unites States national side in early September.

Celtic

The Hoops have won all six Scottish Premiership games this season, scoring 20 goals without conceding. They were 6-0 victors at St. Johnstone on Saturday.

That made it 16 goals in the Bhoys' last three matches in all competitions.

Celtic were 5-2 winners at home to Falkirk in the Scottish League Cup quarter-finals on 22 September and will play Aberdeen in the last four.

The Glasgow club have won their last 15 games in all competitions, stretching back to a 3-3 draw against Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup semi-final on 20 April – a tie they won 6-5 on penalties.

Celtic have conceded only four goals in their nine games in 2024/25 – scoring 33 – and have kept eight clean sheets in 12 matches stretching back to last season.