One of the most spectacular sights in football, the Yellow Wall at Borussia Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion is undoubtedly one of the best football stands in the world.
Making up the entirety of the South Stand of the Westfalenstadion, the Yellow Wall accounts for 24,500 of the stadium’s 81,000 capacity, with it being standing only for domestic Dortmund matches.
Matches in Europe, internationally involving Germany, or at major tournaments require seating to be installed in the stand, but that does not detract from the atmosphere it creates, serving as Dortmund’s 12th man, week in, week out.
The origins of the Yellow Wall
The need for a new stadium to house Borussia Dortmund was felt many years before the Westfalenstadion was built in time for the 1974 World Cup.
Initial plans stated that the new venue was to be a 60,000-seater athletics stadium, but the cheaper option was to build a 54,000-seater football stadium, without those additional facilities, and that has proved to be a crucially important decision.
Dortmund were in the second tier at the time, but saw a huge bump in their spectator numbers during the 1960s, and they were fortunate that they received funding initially granted to Cologne for that World Cup, before they pulled out.
After promotion to the Bundesliga in 1976 at their new stadium, supporter numbers continued to grow, and with it, so did the South Stand, because following their Champions League success in 1997, Dortmund expanded the stadium, and the South Stand grew from a capacity of 12,000 to 24,500 in one go.
The most extraordinary architectural fact about the stand, though, is that it has a steepness of 37 degrees, similar to that of an Olympic ski jumping slope.
Inventive choreography
A tifo is believed to be behind the naming of the Yellow Wall, when some Dortmund ultras held up a banner saying “Gelbe Wand Dortmund” in 2005, translating simply as Yellow Wall Dortmund.
The sheer vastness of the stand makes it quite a spectacle when large-scale choreography is unveiled, and the most famous of those came back in 2013, when Dortmund faced Malaga.
That tifo of a mischievous man looking through binoculars at the Champions League trophy has gone down in folklore, and one of the most well-known images taken from the Yellow Wall in its history.
Supporters on the Yellow Wall have also used the vastness of the stand to say thanks to legends of the club in a grand manner, such as manager Jurgen Klopp, who was treated to an incredible thank you that reduced him to tears before his final game in charge in 2015.
The 1997 Champions League success was also remembered ahead of a match in the competition against Tottenham Hotspur in 2019, around the same time the supporters put together a wonderful piece of choreography showcasing the very best of the city of Dortmund, and what it means to the locals.
Famous moments in front of the Yellow Wall
As a major tournament host on three occasions, as well as being the home to one of the biggest clubs in Germany, the Yellow Wall has witnessed plenty of special occasions.
The most notable since its expansion in the late-1990s has to be Dortmund’s run to the 2013 Champions League final, when it was in front of the Yellow Wall where BVB performed a miraculous late turnaround to beat Malaga in the quarter-finals.
In the next round, Dortmund welcomed Real Madrid to the Westfalenstadion, and Robert Lewandowski scored three of his astonishing four goals on the night in front of the Yellow Wall, and that 4-1 first-leg success was ultimately enough for BVB to advance to the final.
It is not just Dortmund who have witnessed special moments in front of the Yellow Wall, but Italy too enjoyed one of their finest moments in front of it, when Fabio Grosso and Alessandro Del Piero struck late in extra time in front of a ‘White Wall' to beat hosts Germany in their 2006 World Cup semi-final, the first time ever Die Mannschaft had lost at the venue.
The European Championship was staged in Germany in 2024 too, with Dortmund hosting another semi-final, and the South Stand witnessed more late drama like they did in 2006, with Ollie Watkins scoring a last-gasp winner that saw England advance to the final at the expense of the Netherlands.
At club level, the stadium also hosted the 2001 UEFA Cup final, which will always remain one of the greatest in the competition’s history.
Liverpool were pegged back by Alaves, who trailed 3-1 at the break, but scored three second-half goals attacking the South Stand to force the game into extra time, but unfortunately, it was at that same end where Delfi Geli put through his own net to hand the Reds glory courtesy of the Golden Goal.
Inspiration from the Yellow Wall
The Yellow Wall’s legacy is illustrated by the fact that the Premier League’s two newest stadiums, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Everton Stadium (set to open in August 2025), have taken inspiration from the South Stand.
Spurs’ South Stand is the largest one-tier stand in English football, capable of holding 17,500 supporters, with an incline of 34 degrees, almost the steepest possible by UK law.
Everton have followed suit, because their South Stand will also have the steepest possible incline allowed by law, with that being their designated ‘home’ stand, as they seek to replicate the famous atmosphere seen at Goodison Park.
Architects for both stadiums revealed that the Yellow Wall was behind their idea for the two stands, with hopes that it would be the heartbeat of the stadium that generates the most atmosphere.