Borussia Dortmund Songs & Chants: What Do The Yellow Wall Sing?

The Yellow Wall has become one of the most famous sights in football, leading many people to be desperate to head along to the Westfalenstadion in order to experience it for themselves. The problem is, not everyone who heads along to home ground of Borussia Dortmund will speak German or have a sense of what the club’s songs are all about.

With countless chants to choose from, the stadium will often conjure up some sounds that even the more loyal supporters of the club won’t have heard before, so we’ll look to give you some sense of what to listen out for.

You’ll Never Walk Alone

Fans of Liverpool Football Club and Celtic will know the refrains of You’ll Never Walk Alone only too well, with the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic having been adopted for the two sides decades ago. What some might not realise is that it is also a favourite of Borussia Dortmund supporters, with the song ringing out before kick-off at the club’s home matches. The two British clubs sing along to the version by Gerry & the Pacemakers, which became a hit in the 1960s and was sung by the Kop, remaining the Liverpool anthem ever since.

You’ll Never Walk Alone ❤️ pic.twitter.com/lzy0gTypgd

— 🫡. (@kungfunahi) February 6, 2025

It was then picked up by Celtic supporters after the two clubs enjoyed a number of friendlies against each other during the 1970s. For Borussia Dortmund fans, the story isn’t exactly vastly different. They played Liverpool in the Cup Winners’ Cup final in 1966, three years after Gerry & the Pacemakers had taken the song to number one in the UK. As well as winning 2-1 thanks to an extra-time winner by Reinhard Libuda, the Germans also experienced You’ll Never Walk Alone for the first time before the game, making it their own from that point onwards.

What makes it all the more remarkable is the fact that there are just two teams in Germany who sing You’ll Never Walk Alone: Borussia Dortmund and Mainz. For those of you who have been paying attention of the years, you will know that those were the two clubs managed by Jürgen Klopp before he arrived at Anfield, where the You’ll Never Walk Alone story began. The only major difference is that the Dortmund version that fans sing along to at Signal Iduna Park isn’t Gerry & the Pacemakers, but a 1990s cover from local band Pur Harmony. Regardless, it is the key song for Dortmund supporters.

Wir Halten Fest und Treu Zusammen

Typically speaking, You’ll Never Walk Alone is sung ten minutes before kick-off at the Westfalenstadion. The song that is sung just before the match gets underway is the club’s official song, Wir Halten Fest und Treu Zusammen. It translates roughly to ‘We Hold Firmly and Faithfully Together’ and can be dated back to 1934, with the lyrics being adapted over the years. That is because they have not been without controversy at one point or another, so the club has changed them in order to ensure that they have not caused anyone any offence.

@moritz.rudel #borussiadortmund #bvb09 #championsleague #theunity #niemalsaufgeben #ripmarcel #wirhaltenfestundtreuzusammen #antirb #antihoppenheim ♬ Originalton – GermanFootballHistory

In terms of the meaning behind the song, it can probably best be summed up by the chorus, which says:

We stick together firm and truely,

Ball-hail-hooray! Borussia!

We despair before no opponent,

Ball-hail-hooray! Borussia!

Leuchte auf mein Stern Borussia

Another of the club’s ‘official’ songs is Leuchte auf mein Stern Borussia, which means ‘Shine on my star Borussia’ in English. Again, the chorus is probably the best indicator of what the song is all about:

Light up my star Borussia,

Light up and lead the way.

No matter where it’s leading us,

I’ll always stand by your side.

Mainz 😥… aber tolle Choreo mit klasse Kinderchor 🖤💛🎄

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— Naͣs͛cͨhͪᴋⷦaͣᴛⷮzeͤ (@naschkatze.bsky.social) December 19, 2023 at 10:02 PM

It is more of an ode to Borussia Dortmund than the kind of chant that you might expect at an English football ground, telling the story of the club’s birth.

Heja BVB

When the players are warming up, Heja BVB is one of the chants that you’ll hear from supporters. ‘Heja’ means ‘Cheers’, with the words surrounding it being things like ‘Today we want to win, we put a jerk in it. Today Borussia plays it big, until the last man’ or ‘We want to storm the goal, yes that is our duty. Today we set the pace, the opponent does not bother us’.

Now THAT’S what I’m talking about HEJA BVB pic.twitter.com/4q4IYURbpu

— arlenee ♡ (@reynista_) February 11, 2025

It is fair to say that the words do not stand out when written in English, but they are impressive when sung by Borussia Dortmund supporters in unison. When Signal Iduna Park decides to put its body behind it, the chanting of Heja BVB can be quite an intimidating thing to witness.

Other Songs

There are many other songs that you could expect to hear from the Borussia Dortmund faithful, going in and out of fashion as such things do at football grounds up and down the country. Borussia is just such a song, as is BVB Walzer, which is a song about the club winning the Bundesliga. Olé, Jetzt Kommt der BVB translates to ‘Olé, here comes BVB’ and features several choruses.

The song Wer wird Deutscher Meiste means ‘Who is the German champion’ and is a song that is reserved for the times Dortmund have won the league. Unlike in the UK, it is more common for football clubs in Germany to have official songs when they win the league. As a result, Unser Stolz Borussia, or ‘Our Pride Borussia’, became just that for Der BVB when they won the Bundesliga at the end of the 2010-2011 season.

Chants

As you might imagine, there are also numerous chants that the Borussia Dortmund supporters engage in from time to time, just as supporters of other clubs from around Europe do the same thing. Here is a list of the names of the chants and their rough translation:

The majority of the chants are pro Dortmund, but the ones with an asterisk against them are anti-other clubs that they have a rivalry with. As you might imagine, all of the chants, like the songs, go in and out of fashion depending on what the club are up to.