FIFA 23 Borussia Dortmund Career Mode Guide - Starting Lineup, Who to Sign & more

Borussia Dortmund may have lost Erling Haaland, however, they are still a top side with many exciting youngsters to develop in FIFA 23 Career Mode.

The board is expecting a lot, but with the team at your disposal and the ability to gain a massive transfer budget, you can assemble a really formidable side in FIFA 23.

Team Rating

Borussia Dortmund has a four-and-a-half-star rating in FIFA 23.

The breakdown of the ratings is as follows: ATT 79, MID 80, DEF 82.

Starting Lineup and Formation

Dortmund starts as a 4-2-3-1 Wide, but we're changing that to a 4-1-2-1-2 Narrow, letting us get all the best players on the pitch in their preferred positions, while also having strong options to bring off the bench.

The side doesn't have any top-quality, dedicated wingers, so taking that position out of the lineup is the right move - unless you want to invest heavily in wide-men.

Donyell Malen and Sebastien Haller are our front two, making that classic fast-man/big-man combination.

Marco Reus will have a roaming role behind them as the CAM, stringing the play together.

The two box-to-box CMs of Jude Bellingham and Emre Can make for a very combative yet still technical engine room.

Sitting behind them to give the defence some cover is Salih Ozcan at CDM.

Thomas Meunier and Raphael Guerreiro are two ball-playing full-backs who will help to overload the midfield and also give width to the side.

The CB pairing of Niklas Sule and Nico Schlotterbeck is a mighty combination, with both offering decent pace, physicality and aerial threat.

Gregor Kobel is the only man to pick between the sticks, a promising young player and a very attacking and aggressive keeper.

Tactics and Instructions

We're keeping the Dortmund tactics as they are in FIFA 23, which will give a very aggressive and direct style of play.

Defensively they are asked to Press After Possession Loss and will have a very high line, and offensively they will use Fast Build Up and Forward Runs - although this could be changed to Direct Passing.

Malen will be set to Drift Wide to give the side some width, as well as Get In Behind and Stay Forward, to make the most of his explosive pace.

Haller is asked to Stay Central, play as a Target Man and Stay Forward, keeping him as close to the goal as possible.

Reus is on Free Roam to make passing options for the side in the final third and break down defences.

Bellingham is told to Get Forward to make the most of his attacking abilities.

Ozcan is on Stay Back While Attacking and Cover Center to protect the side from counterattacks and is also asked to take on a Deep Lying Playmaker role.

Both the full-backs are set to Join The Attack and Overlap, which gives you some much-needed width and will also put lots of pressure on the opposition when trying to get out of their half.

Development Plans

If you plan on sticking with the 4-1-2-1-2 formation, then there are a few players that could do with a position change.

Julian Brandt has a few players to compete with at CAM, so converting him to a CM will let you rotate him into the side without compromising his ability.

If you plan on keeping Thorgan Hazard then he will be best switched to a CAM.

It would also be an idea to get Jamie Bynoe-Gittens converted to a ST, so he is gaining the attributes to play the role well when he reaches his potential.

Training

There is so much young talent in the squad that it could be hard to stay on top of it all!

Make sure you train up Bellingham (POT 91), Youssoufa Moukoko (POT 89), Schlotterbeck (POT 88), Kobel (POT 88), Bynoe-Gittens (POT 87), Karim Adeyemi (POT 87), Sule (POT 87), Giovanni Reyna (POT 86), Malen (POT 85), Brandt (POT 85), Ozcan (POT 83), Tom Rothe (POT 82), Abdoulaye Kamara (POT 82), Soumaila Coulibaly (POT 82) and Nnamdi Collins (POT 82).

Goktan Gurpuz (POT 79), Lion Semic (POT 79) and Mateu Morey (POT 79) could also be useful squad players in the future, however, by the time they are you may already have found better replacements.

Transfer Market

Starting budget: £70 million

Who should go?

There will be a bit of a balancing act to play when selling players, as you want to improve the squad depth and starting lineup, while also offloading many.

We will be looking to sign a better striker than Haller, so although he is currently our best player in that position, you could use him in a player-swap deal, or even get around £35 million for him.

Reus and Hummels are both at the end of their careers, so you can either get a decent chunk of money from their sales now (around £60 million) or keep them until they retire.

Other players we would recommend getting rid of are Mahmoud Dahoud, Anothony Modeste, Hazard, Marius Wolf, Marcel Lotka, Antonios Papadopoulos, Nico Schulz, Felix Passlack and Alexander Meyer.

If you sell all of these players it could add a whopping £160 million to your budget, giving you £230 million to revamp the side.

Loans

If you don't want to spend the time training them yourself, you can send Bynoe-Gittens, Rothe, Kamara, Coulibaly and Collins out on loan to fulfil their potential.

Dortmund only has one player out on loan, Ansgar Knauff (POT 83), who is well worth keeping an eye on.

Who to sign?

As stated earlier, bringing in a better striker is one area that could really improve the side.

Dortmund has loads of promising strikers in the side already, so it doesn't matter if this player has the potential to become world-class, we are looking for someone who can do the business now!

We want to keep the big-man/fast-man combination, so all of these players can also hold the ball up and be an aerial threat.

Transfer Targets (ST)

Although a class striker is our top priority, the position that needs improving the most is at right-back, so make sure you bring in a decent starter there too.

As the side will be pressing high and on the front foot most of the time, an attacking RB who is confident on the ball is what we are after.

If they can occupy this position for years to come it would be a great investment, and Reece James would be our top target.

Transfer Targets (RB)

Once you have brought in starters for those positions, look to invest in squad depth by bringing in a promising LB, a decent box-to-box CM and a CB or two to help with squad rotation.

Board Expectations

With a strong and exciting side, the board is expecting a lot in your first FIFA 23 season.

Brand Exposure is of critical priority, where we were asked to get seven clean sheets in home matches and also sign a player with the same nationality as the club.

Also of critical priority is Domestic Success, with the board expecting you to win the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal Cup!

You have a hard season ahead, as Continental Success is also a high priority, where you will need to reach the semi-final of the Champions League.

Youth Development is another high priority, but we were given a Long Term task, requiring us to sign a player from the Youth Academy in the first season and play them in 50% of games in the next season - something that should be easier if you pre-ordered the game and got the Homegrown Talent perk.

Finally, there is the medium-priority Financial target, where we needed to finish the season with a £25,800,000 profit margin, which is definitely achievable if you win the main competitions!