The club was founded on 19 December 1909 by a group of young men unhappy with church-sponsored Trinity Youth, where they played football under the stern and unsympathetic eye of the local parish priest. Father Dewald was blocked at the door when he tried to break up the organizing meeting being held in a room of the local pub, Zum Wildschütz. The name Borussia is Latin for Prussia and was taken from the nearby Borussia brewery. The team began play in blue and white striped shirts with a red sash, and black shorts. In 1913, they donned the black and yellow stripe so familiar today.
Over the next decades the club enjoyed only modest success playing in local leagues. They had a brush with bankruptcy in 1929 when an attempt to boost the club's fortunes by signing some paid professional footballers failed miserably and left the team deep in debt. They survived only through the generosity of a local supporter who covered the team's shortfall out of his own pocket.Borussian Dortmund FC was founded on December 19, 1909 by a group of young men who were unhappy with Church sponsored football. Their first organized meeting was held at a local pub named Zum Wildschütz. There they came up with the name Borussia, which in Latin means Prussia. It was taken from a local Brewery. They also decided on a uniform, which included blue and white striped shirts with a red stash, and black shorts.

Over the next decade the club started to grow. In 1913 the team changed its colours to the yellow and black, and red and black uniforms which they use today. They played out of Stadion Rote Erde in local leagues, where they saw some success. In 1929 they tried to boost the team’s fortunes by signing some paid professionals, which flopped, and left the team in debt. The sole reason for their survival was a generous donor who contributed to the team.

During the 1930s, the Nazi Party restructured football in Germany and established the Gauliga, in which the club did well in. Despite their success, Borussia’s President was replaced when he refused to join the Nazi party. A couple of members of the organization were executed in the last days of war when they tried to use the club’s office in order to produce anti-Nazi pamphlets.

After the war, and the fall of the Nazi party, the club really made a breakthrough in the league. A rivalry between it and Schalke started to grow, due to both teams success. There was a short and failed attempt in order to merge Borussia with other organizations. In 1949 the team made its first appearance in the national final, but lost to VfR Mannheim 2-to-3. However, in 1956 Borussia won its first Oberliga West title. Just one year later, the club won its second title. Niepeiklo and Kelbassa became the superstar athletes of the team, scoring goals in both final matches.

In 1963 the German Football Association got together and voted to establish a professional football league in Germany, knows as the Bundesliga. Borussia Dortmund became one of the founding members of the new league. The team won its first professional cup in 1965. Only a year later, BVB became the first German club to win The European Cup Winners Cup defeating Liverpool FC 2-1 in Glasgow, Scotland.

The team’s success did not carry on into the early 1970’s and 80’s. They often were faced with financial problems and relegation. In 1972 the club had two victories against FC Nuremberg, which got them promoted back to the Bundesliga. However, they did not have any major success for a long time, and were close to again being relegated in 1986, but avoided it by winning a game against Fortuna Köln and finishing 16th place. It wasn’t till 1989 that the club became successful once again, winning the German Cup.

During the 1990’s the team continued to build on the success of the 1989 season. They went to the final of the UEFA Cup in 1993, but lost on aggregate to Juventus. As a result, the team earned 25 million Deutsche Marks, which they invested into new talent. With the help of newly acquired players such as Matthias Sammer, the club was able to win the Bundesliga championship in 1995 and 1996. Matthias Sammer went on to win the European Footballer of the Year Award. Just one year later the team won the UEFA Champions League in Munich beating a Juventus team which had Zidane on it. They also beat Cruzeiro in order to win the Intercontinental Cup Final.

When the new millennium approached Borussia Dortmund became the first German football organization to be publicly traded on the German stock market. Two years later the club won its third Bundesliga title by defeating Bayer Leverkusen. A trip to the UEFA Cup final that same year resulted in a lost to the Dutch team Feyenoord. Since then the club has not bee able to have any type of success, till the present. They went through financial hardship, but have been slowly able to overcome them.

National titles
German Championship: 6
1955–56, 1956–57, 1962–63, 1994–95, 1995–96, 2001–02
DFB-Pokal: 2
1964–65, 1988–89
DFB-Supercup: 4
1989, 1995, 1996, 2008
European titles
UEFA Champions League: 1
1997
European Cup Winners' Cup: 1
1966
International titles
Intercontinental Cup: 1
1997