VfL Bochum welcomes Borussia Dortmund on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. For the BVB fans it is at least a “small Revierderby” in the absence of the big rival Schalke 04, for the Bochum fans it is a big highlight that they had to wait a long time for.
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It’s Revierderby time again in the Bundesliga! Wait a minute, Revierderby? That’s what the duel between Borussia Dortmund and FC Schalke 04 is actually called! But this pairing will not happen this season because the Royal Blues have to compete in the 2nd Bundesliga for the first time since the 1990/91 season. But because VfL Bochum has been promoted, there is at least a “little derby” in the area, which the supporters of both camps are looking forward to with varying degrees of feelings.
Last VfL win against Dortmund in March 2007
From the point of view of BVB fans, it is of course not irrelevant whether the opponent is Schalke or Bochum. The very big rivalry as with the Royal Blues does not exist against VfL. But it is a derby without question, after all, the distance between the two cities is even smaller than that between Dortmund and Gelsenkirchen. And for sure, many Dortmunders have a VfL fan in their circle of friends, from whom they would have to listen to malicious comments in the event of a BVB defeat (at least) until the second leg.
In Bochum, the anticipation of the duel with the Black and Yellows is much greater. After all, the VfL supporters had to wait a long time for the opportunity to compete against a big neighbor from the area again at Bundesliga level. After relegation in 2010, Bochum spent eleven years in the 2nd Bundesliga and has not played any competitive games against Dortmund or Schalke since then.
So now it’s finally back against BVB. An unequal duel, of course, after all, a newcomer welcomes the reigning DFB Cup winner and third-placed last season. But the overall balance doesn’t look so bad from the Bochumers’ point of view. The two opponents have played a total of 60 Bundesliga games against each other so far. Dortmund won 24 times, Bochum 16 times, 20 duels ended in a draw. VfL celebrated their last win against BVB on March 10, 2007 in front of their home crowd. Theofanis Gekas scored both goals to make it 2-0.
The hope that now, almost 15 years later, another home win against the big competitor could be achieved, lives in Bochum. Because in their own stadium, Thomas Reis’ team is also convincing at Bundesliga level. VfL scored 13 of a total of 19 points in front of their home crowd, four of the six home games were won, and most recently there were even three home wins in a row against Frankfurt (2: 0), Hoffenheim (2: 0) and Freiburg (2: 1).
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A derby win is important for both opponents not only for reasons of prestige. Borussia need three points to stay in the fight for first place at Bayern Munich, Bochum can use every point to play in the Bundesliga in the future. And should Schalke manage to get promoted again, large and small district derbies in Germany’s top division would finally become the norm again.
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