Four hours of discussions - behind the scenes of the shirt design competition | OneFootball

For the first time, fans have the opportunity to do more than just pass comment on how the club's shirt looks. Now, they've had the chance to design the shirts themselves. Blown away by a " wealth of creativity", a jury including BVB legend Dede and captain Marco Reus, among others, have picked out 09 finalists. Vote now!

As the jury members introduce themselves, Dede, with a mischievous grin on his face, quickly gets the first laughs. "I'm Leonardo," says the former footballer, "and I played for the club for a few years." But the big character and fan favourite was underplaying things: it was actually 13 years and 322 appearances in the Bundesliga which made the Brazilian a club legend at Borussia Dortmund. Few have ever defended the left flank with so much passion.

When he visits Dortmund nowadays, no-one expects stellar sporting performances from Dede - on this Wednesday in February, other qualities count: a good eye, strong fashion sense and a flair for colours and shapes. Together with eight others, the former pro has the task of picking out the nine favourites from a mass of entries to make up a shortlist for the final round of the "Design datt Ding" (Design that thing) competition - with the thing in question being BVB's home shirt for the 2023/24 season. In this campaign by fans for fans, over 15,143 entries from more than 100 countries were sent to the club. Managing director Carsten Cramer was left almost speechless at the " wealth of creativity", the response was "gigantic", the submitted designs were "unbelievably good in terms of both quantity and quality" and the campaign was "long overdue".

Across several rounds, the mass of designs is sorted and structured: what is feasible? What could work, what complies with German Football League regulations, and what doesn't? Now 500 designs are piled up on a five-by-two-metre table. Some are garish, gaudy, adventurous, particularly innovative. Others, with their calm, restrained, simple, unobtrusive aesthetics, stand for tradition and the romance of football. All in the spirit of the Italian painter and sculptor Leonardo da Vinci, who made a statement that Apple founder Steve Jobs also liked to use: "Simplicity is the highest form of sophistication.''

15,143 entries from more than 100 countries

In addition to Dede, BVB have appointed footballer Gina Glänzer, Sarah Hartwich (museum manager at the BORUSSEUM), Professor Oliver Langbein (FH Dortmund), actor and BVB fan Frederick Lau, Denis Othmani (BVB Merchandising), Lucia Walter (PUMA), Tobias Westerfellhaus (BVB Fan and Support Department) and first-team captain Marco Reus to the jury. They rummage through all the proposals, they pour their eyes over them and have lively discussions about patterns, city maps and skylines, stripes and sashes before awarding points over several rounds and determining the best of the best. The future sports director Sebastian Kehl also stops by briefly in conference room 3 of the sports office in Brackel. At this late hour, his interested gaze wanders over the top 100, which have been moved over to cover one wall of the conference room.

After almost four hours of deliberation, nine designs made it through to the final round. You have until 18 March to vote for your favourite. Marco Reus, Dede and the seven jury members have picked their favourites. Now it's your turn! To vote, go to bvb.de/designdattding.

A lot of time will pass before the secret of which design concept has won the competition for the 2023/24 home shirt is revealed. 16 months to be exact. In the summer of 2023, the winner of the competition will officially be announced, because only then will all the necessary steps for the launch of a home jersey be taken. Author: Thomas Hennecke Photos: Lana Roßdeutscher