Borussia Dortmund are assessing Giannis Konstantelias’ recovery and dealing with the fallout from Felix Nmecha’s controversial goal celebration for “Ballers in God”. The attacking player’s potential return and the club’s response to the celebration are now two matters for Dortmund.
Konstantelias ahead of schedule
About two months after tearing a cruciate ligament, Giannis Konstantelias is reportedly well ahead of schedule in his recovery. He is training hard at least five days a week to regain fitness.
Bild, citing sources at Borussia Dortmund, reports that Konstantelias is ahead of schedule.
Return date remains open
Reports from Greece suggest that Konstantelias’ rehabilitation is going so well that a comeback between February and March 2027 is realistic. The 23-year-old has no fixed return date, and Borussia Dortmund do not want to rush him given his injury history.
The previous expectation was that Konstantelias would not be available again until April at the earliest.
Goal before serious injury
Konstantelias joined Borussia Dortmund from PAOK Thessaloniki. He scored to make it 2-0 against HSV on matchday one and also played well in that match.
He suffered his serious injury in the second half of the match against HSV without any contact from an opponent and has been out ever since.
Nmecha told to stop the celebration
Following Felix Nmecha’s controversial goal celebration for the faith community “Ballers in God”, the DFB have followed through on the consequences they announced. National-team coach Jürgen Klopp and sporting director Rudi Völler summoned Nmecha for talks on Monday, immediately after he arrived at the team’s base in Herzogenaurach.
The sporting leadership told Nmecha that the association would publicly back him only if he made it unequivocally clear that he did not hold any questionable or discriminatory views. Only after those internal talks did Nmecha publish his personal statement late on Monday evening.
At a meeting of Borussia Dortmund’s fan and support department, club president Hans-Joachim Watzke allegedly made it clear that the club were unequivocally asking Nmecha to stop making the gesture altogether in future. According to Bild, Borussia Dortmund firmly expect Nmecha to relent and refrain from the celebration in future after several confidential conversations between Watzke and Nmecha.
Borussia Dortmund want to avoid any further links with the group “Ballers in God”. Bild reports that Borussia Dortmund reserve the right to take legal action if the Christian network “Ballers in God” continues to use images of Nmecha in a Dortmund shirt for PR purposes.
