Club News: Sunderland Set For Friendly Visit

Sunderland AFC will be the first visitors to Signal Iduna Park this summer after the club accepted their proposal to meet on Saturday 18 July as part of their pre-season tour of Germany. The friendly will be BVB’s third of the summer after trips to Wuppertal and Bielefeld, and takes place a week before the DFL-Supercup against Schalke.

The club also revealed that they had to reject a proposal from recently promoted French top-flight side Le Mans for the same day. Dortmund’s U19 side will travel to TSV Großbadorf on 04 July for a friendly, after their first fixture was confirmed today.

Benjamin Bella and Emiliano Mancinelli have been called-up by the German and Italian squads respectively for the UEFA U19 Championship taking place in Greece next month.

In South Korea, Mustafa Amini scored his second goal of the AFC U22 Championship for Australia as they beat Iraq 4-1 in their second group game. They play Vietnam to seal qualification for the final four tomorrow.

Swansea City have taken their summer spending to the £29m mark with the £11.5m capture of Vincent Aboubakar from PSV Eindhoven. The 23 year-old striker, capped 23 times (11 goals) by Cameroon, scored 14 times in Eredivisie last season.

Racing Santander manager Fabri has left the club by mutual consent after the club were relegated to the Spanish second-tier last season. They won just six of their forty competitive matches last season.

Daily Dortmund Diary: Sunday 21 June 2015

The players have reported back to Brackel after their four weeks off, with a number of players being promoted through the club’s squads. Erik Durm has been promoted to the first team after his return from Braunschweig where he scored 13 times in 32 appearances for the 2.Bundesliga side last season.

Hervé Matthys, Samy Bourard, Hendrik Brauer, Nils Lennard Dietz, Ogün Gümüstas, and Jeremy Dudziak are now all ineligible for the U19 squad next season and have joined Dortmund II. The club have announced that the club won’t play in 3.Liga again next season, and players will be sent on loan should they not break into the senior squad.

Viktor Fischer and Stevan Jovetic have both been granted an extra fortnight’s holiday after looking very tired in training. Both featured heavily in recent long-distance Euro 2016 Qualifiers for Denmark and Montenegro respectively.

Coach José Segura has started on his Continental Pro License, with the club paying the fee.

Alex Sandro has become the biggest signing of the summer so far, with a £21.5m move from Porto to Manchester City. The 24 year-old Brazilian international left-back was at Porto for four years (winning two titles) since his £8m move from Santos in 2011.

Colombian wing-back Juan Guillermo Cuadrado has left Chelsea after one season, where he only made 10 appearances following his £8.5m move from Udinese. The 27 year-old recently spoke out about his anger at not being included in Colombia’s Copa America squad, and has joined Marseille for £8.5m.

BVB’s U19 Set to Begin Title Defence in Köln

Borussia Dortmund’s double-winning U19 side have confirmed their entry into the 2015-16 Junioren-Bundesliga, defending their Group 3 title. Their league season will begin on 30 August with a trip to FC Köln before hosting Schalke the following Sunday.

The Junioren-Pokal draw will be made on 10 August.

BVB Board Announce 2015 – 2016 Budget

The board of directors at Borussia Dortmund have made announcements this morning regarding the club’s finances ahead of the transfer window opening on Monday as preparations begin for the 2015-16 season.

First Team Manager Gray Surman has been given an initial transfer fund of £15.85m, and the wage budget is set at £1.33m per week (current spends £1.2m p/w). 100% of any fees raised will be made available, and should the current wage total remain constant, then a £20.2m transfer kitty can be spent excluding any fees received.

The club made a total loss of £13.2m last season, but prize money has now been paid by UEFA and DFL meaning that the club has made a profit of £28m in June alone. The club’s current balance is £79.26m, with £1.04m being raised through the club’s membership scheme, a similar amount as last season.

The board announced that dividends totalling £13m will be paid to shareholders, with the turnover for the last financial year being approximately £228m.

The 1.Bundesliga fixture list will be released on 20 June. The opening day of the season will take place on 22 August, with the DFL-Supercup at Schalke scheduled for 25 July.

The double-winning U19 side have arranged their first pre-season friendlies. They will travel to SC Freiburg on 01 August, before playing at Hamburger SV four days later. Freiburg finished 7th in Group 4 last season, while Hamburg were 3rd in Group 2.

Youth News: Matthys Injured with Belgium

Hervé Matthys was injured on international duty with Belgium U19 this afternoon, being carried off with a gashed leg in the closing stages of their Friendly win over Denmark in Viborg. Stéfano Vandebosch scored the only goal of the game shortly before the incident.

Staying with Belgium, Wout Devriendt and Samy Bourard both featured in the U21’s 1-0 win over Switzerland. Björn Hillewaere scored the only goal of the game in the 66th minute in their Friendly in Tessenderlo.

Also playing U21 football tonight were Benjamin Bella (Germany, 1-1 v. South Korea), Koray Günter and Ogün Gümüstas (both Turkey, 1-0 v. Cyprus), and Ivan Shapovalov (Ukraine, 1-1 v. Israel). Elsewhere, Jeremy Dudziak played the full match for Tunisia U20 in their 0-1 defeat at home to Mexico.

Cristiano Ronaldo: Europe’s Best Player

Cristiano Ronaldo has received the Best Player in Europe Award from UEFA at a ceremony in Nyon today, after his 24 goals and 8 assists in 44 games helped Real Madrid to a domestic treble and fourth-straight La Liga title.

Second place went to Sergio Agüero of Manchester City who scored 25 times and made 13 assists in his 54 appearances this season including a hat-trick in the Europa League Final. Domestically, they were beaten to the Premier League title on goal difference by Manchester United, but lifted the FA Cup after Agüero’s opener against WBA.

Wayne Rooney polled third after he scored 22 times in 55 games for Manchester United and England over the past season, also making 11 assists. United retained the Premier League this season, and reached the Champions League final four.

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Borussia Dortmund have announced that teenage striker Quirin Riemann has signed his first professional contract after he turned 17 on Thursday. Riemann has committed to the club until the summer of 2018, and will likely be sent out on loan next season.

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In other news, French clubs Arles-Avignon, Evian, and RC Lens have all appointed new managers, hiring Peter Maes, Eric Hély, and Laurent Guyot respectively. Lastly, Belgian top-flight side Westerlo have appointed Harry van den Ham as their new man in charge.