When BVB won the 1997 Intercontinental Cup

Borussia Dortmund are one of 31 clubs worldwide to be able to display the silverware of club world champions in their trophy cabinet. The Black & Yellows achieved this honour once before - in 1997, against the Brazilian club Cruzeiro from the city of Belo Horizonte. Back in those days, the champions of Europe faced the champions of South America for the Intercontinental Cup title.

After back-to-back Bundesliga titles in 1995 and 1996, BVB won the UEFA Champions League in 1997 with a 3-1 victory over Juventus. The team not only won their third major title in a row, but also qualified for the Intercontinental Cup match between the best European team and the best South American team.

The match took place in Tokyo on 2 December 1997. Their opponents, Cruzeiro, the winners of the South American Copa Libertadores, had strengthened their squad with the addition of three Brazil internationals - Bebeto, Donizete and Goncalves - and were determined to win the title. The trophy carried huge prestige in South America and Dortmund's Brazilian Julio César helped to spur on his team-mates: “This is an Intercontinental Cup final! You only reach something like this once in a lifetime. Pull yourselves together!”

Borussia embraced the occasion. After a shaky opening quarter of an hour, they worked their way into the game and took the lead in the 34th minute with a goal from Michael Zorc. After a Cruzeiro player was dismissed for a second yellow card with 15 minutes left, the Black & Yellows pressed home their numerical advantage and put the game to bed thanks to a goal from Heiko Herrlich to make it 2-0 with five minutes left to play.

The president at the time, Dr Gerd Niebaum, was beaming with joy and described the title in heroic terms: “The Intercontinental Cup is one of the honours of a great club. For me, it perhaps carries even more weight than winning the Champions League, as the Intercontinental Cup already requires victory in the Champions League. It is the crowning glory of our club's work to date. German champions, Champions League winners, Intercontinental Cup winners - a cycle is complete.”

2 December 1997
Borussia Dortmund 2-0 Cruzeiro 
Attendance: 51,514 (in Tokyo)

BVB: Stefan Klos - Wolfgang Feiersinger, Stefan Reuter, Júlio César - Jörg Heinrich, Steffen Freund, Paulo Sousa, Andreas Möller, Michael Zorc (80, Jovan Kirovski) - Heiko Herrlich, Stéphane Chapuisat (75, Harry Decheiver). Coach: Nevio Scala

Goals: 1-0 Michael Zorc (34), 2-0 Heiko Herrlich (85)