Soccer
Niko Kovac has highlighted the importance of a fast start for Borussia Dortmund to “get rolling” in the Bundesliga, ahead of their trip to Hoffenheim on Saturday.
BVB were 2-0 victors at home to Hamburg on the opening weekend of the season, before thrashing minnows HEBC 5-0 in the first round of the DFB-Pokal.
At the SNP Arena this weekend, Dortmund will play their 50th Bundesliga match under Kovac, who has collected 104 points from his first 49 games at the helm (W23 D8 L10).
Another victory would see him break the record for the most points won by any Dortmund boss through their first 50 matches, with Lucien Favre the current record holder on 106, followed by Thomas Tuchel on 105.
And if Dortmund are to mount a serious challenge for Bayern Munich’s title this term, Kovac knows building momentum early on will be crucial.
“The start of a season is always very important; you have to get rolling,” he said on Friday, as quoted by Dortmund’s website.
“That applies to all teams, and of course to us as well. We’re heading to Sinsheim to win the game.”
Dortmund concluded their transfer business on Tuesday by signing 19-year-old creative midfielder Ethan Nwaneri on a season-long loan deal from Arsenal.
And Nwaneri, who will serve as a replacement for the injured Giannis Konstantelias after making 11 appearances on loan at Marseille last season, could be thrown in for an immediate debut this weekend.
“He’s a fit player who, in theory – and perhaps in practice as well – could play right away,” Kovac said of the England Under-21 international.
BVB England pic.twitter.com/MSLuWrbyQQ
— Borussia Dortmund (@BlackYellow) September 3, 2026
“He has very good technical skills; we’ve already seen that in training. I’m very satisfied with him.”
Hoffenheim made a losing start to their campaign, going down by a 3-2 scoreline at Koln, having led 2-1 with just 18 minutes of the 90 remaining.
They finished fifth in the Bundesliga in 2025-26, narrowly missing out on Champions League football, and Kovac is full of admiration for Christian Ilzer’s side.
“You can see how important it is to give someone the time to implement certain things… to have one, or even several, transfer windows to make changes and adjustments,” he said.
“The style of football played by Hoffenheim is very intense, very aggressive, and very direct.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Hoffenheim – Andrej Kramaric
Kramaric currently has 199 goal involvements in 321 Bundesliga games, the most of any active player in the league.
He could become the fifth player to reach 200+ goal involvements since Opta began recording Bundesliga data in 2004-05, after Robert Lewandowski (367), Thomas Muller (323), Marco Reus (251) and Mario Gomez (201).
And, in what could be a positive omen ahead of this match, Kramaric has only scored more Bundesliga goals against Hertha Berlin (12) than he has against Dortmund (11).
Borussia Dortmund – Konstantinos Karetsas
Dortmund lost Konstantelias to an anterior cruciate ligament injury on matchday one, but their other Greek addition this summer, Karetsas, is fit and firing.
Karetsas was directly involved in nine shots (six shots, three chances created) on MD1, the joint-most in the league alongside Augsburg’s Marius Wolf.
Since 2004-05, only two players have been directly involved in more shots on their Bundesliga debuts (Martin Fenin and Niklas Beste, both 10).
MATCH PREDICTION – BORUSSIA DORTMUND WIN
Hoffenheim have won just two of their last 12 Bundesliga matches against Dortmund (D2 L8), failing to keep a clean sheet in any of those games.
At home, Hoffenheim have not kept a clean sheet in their last 14 Bundesliga matches against BVB, their longest such run against any opponent at home in the competition.
Saturday’s hosts could start a Bundesliga season with two defeats for just the third time ever, and the first since 2015-16 (also 2012-13), and they are the Opta supercomputer’s underdogs.
Dortmund have started the last four Bundesliga seasons with two unbeaten games, and this could be the first time they have ever achieved that feat in five straight campaigns.
The last time Borussia Dortmund started a Bundesliga season with two wins was in 2022-23, while they last won their first two matches to nil in 2017-18.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Hoffenheim – 33.8%
Borussia Dortmund – 41.6%
Draw – 24.6%
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