Hertha Berlin vs Borussia Dortmund 2018 (Hertha-BVB 2018)
Final score and result:- Hertha Berlin vs Dortmund 1-1 (Selke/Kagawa)
Olympiastadion, Berlin- 19 January, 2018
Dortmund’s quest for a league win in the new year continues as they draw with Hertha
Joshua Kimmich has been named German player of the Year for 2017. The versatile 22 year old Bayern star won an online poll conducted by the national football association, picking up 45.3% of the votes (23,904 out of 52,761). PSG’s Julian Draxler was second, while goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen was third. The poll was among the 11 players who had maximum playing time for the German national football team during the year. Given that Germany sent a relatively young team to the Confederations Cup, this meant that the likes of Jerome Boateng, toni Kroos and Mesut Ozil were NOT in the shortlist.
Ozil is the holder of the German player of the year award, winning it in 2016 and 2015.
German footballer of the year 2017- order of ranking & votes received by each player
1) Joshua Kimmich 23,904
2) Julian Draxler 19,963
3) Marc-Andre Ter Stegen 2,492
4) Timo Werner 2,319
5) Leon Goretzka 1,446
6) Antonio Rudiger 905
7) Lars Stindl 665
8) Emre Can 419
9) Jonas Hector 308
10) Sebastian Rudy 248
11) Matthias Ginter 92
Borussia Dortmund have officially confirmed the signing of Manuel Akanji from Swiss Super League side Basel. The 22 year old had been linked with the likes of Liverpool, Tottenham, West Ham and even Manchester United, but has opted to further his career at the Westfalenstadion.
How much did Borussia Dortmund pay for Akanji?
Unofficial reports have the transfer fee for Akanji at €22m (22 million euros)
What is the length of Akanji’s Dortmund contract?
He has signed a four and a half year contract at BVB
What will be Akanji’s jersey number at Dortmund?
Akanji will wear the No.16 shirt at BVB
With Akanji being one of their key central defenders, the move weakens Basel ahead of their Round of 16 CL clash against Man City, unless they bring in reinforcements quickly. The news of Akanji’s transfer also comes just days after Basel sold Renato Steffen to Wolfsburg.
At the time of writing this article, Basel are two points behind Young Boys in the Swiss top flight while Dortmund are fourth in Germany, behind the trio of Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig and Schalke 04.