Five months after his serious knee injury, Nico Schlotterbeck returned to Borussia Dortmund’s team training for the first time on Wednesday – at least partially.
Schlotterbeck had already returned to running training at the end of July, and now the center back has taken the next step in his rehabilitation process towards a comeback. The German international suffered a torn meniscus at the beginning of April and missed the rest of the 2024/25 season.
Partial return to the circle of teammates
Schlotterbeck had recently been participating in individual training sessions with his teammates, but today was his first time participating in a joint session. However, the 25-year-old will not be returning to full team training immediately.
After the DFB’s World Cup qualifying matches in Group A in Slovakia (0-2) last Thursday and the 3-1 win against Northern Ireland on Sunday, four other internationals, Karim Adeyemi, Waldemar Anton, Maximilian Beier and Pascal Groß, were back on the training ground on Wednesday.
Ideally, Schlotterbeck will be able to reinforce the Dortmund contingent at the DFB in the next round of qualifying in October.
English week approaching: First Heidenheim, then Turin
The Westphalians will play their next competitive match after the break on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at 1. FC Heidenheim, before Borussia’s 2025/26 Champions League season begins next Tuesday (9 p.m.) with an away game in Italy against Juventus Turin. The English week ends for Dortmund on Sunday evening (7:30 p.m.) next week with a home game against VfL Wolfsburg.
