Gregor Kobel interview: “I play to win”

Gregor Kobel interview: “I play to win”

In the summer of 2021, the Swiss player joined BVB. Only Emre Can has been at the club longer – since January 2020. Kobel has made 217 competitive appearances in black and yellow. A milestone is waiting for the 28-year-old right at the start of the league season: his 200th Bundesliga match.

Gregor Kobel is a guarantee of reliability and has become one of the faces of the team. In 2025/26, he was the Bundesliga’s best goalkeeper; in four of the last five seasons, he was named the league’s top keeper.

Niko Kovac says of him: “He did fantastic work here even before I arrived. We have a great goalkeeper in our ranks. He radiates calm and composure and saves what he has to save. And if it takes a superhuman stop, he’s capable of that too.”

Is a sentence like that confirmation of years of hard work?“It’s very nice to hear something like that, especially from your own coach. He’s also been at quite a few places and seen a lot. So a statement like that means a great deal to me.”

From Zurich to Dortmund

The son of a former top-flight professional ice hockey player was born in Zurich on St. Nicholas Day in 1997 and trained at Grasshopper Club. In 2014, at the age of 16, he moved to the youth academy of TSG Hoffenheim. After his first appearances for the senior side under coach Julian Nagelsmann, he was loaned to FC Augsburg in January 2019, where he played in 16 of the 17 possible matches in the second half of the season. In the summer of 2019, he joined then-second-division side VfB Stuttgart. A year later, he helped the club win promotion to the Bundesliga. The 1.96-meter athlete has been under contract with Borussia Dortmund since 2021, with his deal extended early until June 2028.

“It’s an honor to be on the pitch for BVB. We’ve experienced many beautiful moments and many tough ones. I’m grateful for every day I get to do my sport.”

At what age did you first become aware of BVB?“Early, very early. We’ve had quite a few Swiss lads here who played very well and celebrated major success. Whether it was Stéphane Chapuisat, Alex Frei, or Philipp Degen, who is now my advisor.”

“Let’s see what we can achieve”

You reached the Champions League final with BVB and played in the Club World Cup, both bringing great memories. But there’s still something missing that you can actually hold in your hands ...“As an ambitious athlete, you always play to win trophies as well. Unfortunately, we haven’t managed that, even though we came very close in the league in 2023 and in the Champions League in 2024. But I still think we’ve experienced a lot of beautiful things and a lot of good things so far. And I still have two years left on my contract here. Let’s see what we can achieve.”

What influence did your parents have on your career? People say you could also have become a good ice hockey player. And that you got into football when your mother was taking tennis lessons ...“Next to my mom’s tennis club was the football pitch – and that’s where I got to watch football and then wanted to be out there on the pitch with my classmates too. Later, when it came to choosing football and the goal of becoming a professional athlete became very clear, my father played a big role because he knew the professional sports business and was able to pass a lot on to me. I’m very grateful to my parents for everything they gave me.”

“You can take something from most sports: the mindset, the work, the whole amount of effort you have to put in. I like drawing inspiration from other athletes and other sports.”

You left home at 16, moving from Zurich to Hoffenheim. What was that like?“Looking back, it was a very, very big step, even if I wasn’t fully aware of just how big it was at the time. Today I say: it was great for me to live alone, to be responsible for myself, to manage my own money. That growing up gave me a lot – also for my sport.”

A historic summer

In Hoffenheim, the young Gregor Kobel had the experienced Oliver Baumann ahead of him – and in him, an outstanding mentor. Twelve years later, their paths almost crossed again. While the German, Baumann, is dropped shortly before the World Cup (and proves himself to be an exceptional team player), Kobel and the Swiss make the World Cup their tournament. Their dream only ends in the quarter-finals.

Numerous saves by Gregor Kobel during the 120 minutes against Colombia and one saved shot in the penalty shootout took the Swiss into the last eight teams in the world. For the first time since 1954, Switzerland reached a World Cup quarter-final. Seventy-two years later, Kobel follows in the footsteps of legendary Swiss national team goalkeeper Eugène Parlier.

What memories of the 2026 World Cup stand out most?“It was very special to be able to play in a tournament like that. You feel the significance and the power that a tournament like that carries. And then playing the knockout matches in different cities was a great experience for me, and I’m very happy that I was able to help my team. I’m very proud of the lads. They really did a very good job. And yes, it was a great success that we were all able to celebrate together.”

BVB’s number one, the national team’s number one – at 28, have you arrived at what you dreamed of as a little boy?“Right now, in the day-to-day business, I’m far too close to it to think about things like that. I want to be successful, I want to be successful with Borussia Dortmund. We have a lot planned this year; we have many new players whom we need to support and introduce to Borussia Dortmund. So I’m really looking forward to the tasks ahead – and everything else is far off in the future. When you play for Borussia Dortmund, sooner or later you want to win titles. You want to win every game. Whether it’s a training game, a friendly, or a league match.”

The 2025/26 season in numbers

• 73 percent of shots saved – best mark of all goalkeepers (minimum two-thirds of total playing time)
• 52 percent catch rate – joint best in the league with Noah Atubolu
• 34 goals conceded in 34 matches – not a single major blunder
• 15 clean sheets – best in the Bundesliga and a club record (level with Weidenfeller in 2011/12)

For kicker, Kobel is the league’s best keeper in 2025/26 and ranks number one in the “German football rankings.” Kobel ahead of Atubolu (Freiburg), Heuer Fernandes (HSV), Urbig (Munich), Backhaus (Bremen, now Freiburg), and Nicolas (Gladbach).

“It’s very nice for anyone to receive recognition for hard work, for everything they’ve invested and achieved. First and foremost, I try to play my game and help the team be successful. Everything else comes a little on the side.”

“As long as the drive is there”

A pecking order that had been established for years – Manuel Neuer at the top, then the other established names – has been completely shuffled. How do you see it?“For a very long time, I was one of the youngest goalkeepers in the league, almost unusually long. Now it’s nice to see a few younger ones coming through as well, putting in good performances and showing what they can do. It’s also important for Germany that a few very good goalkeepers are coming through. Manu (Manuel Neuer, editor’s note) was the goalkeeper in Germany for years. He produced unbelievable performances.”

How long do you want to keep playing? Neuer is still going at 40.“It’s wonderful when you can do your sport as your profession. That also makes it worth enjoying for as long as possible, as long as you can still produce top performances. And I’m still relatively young for a goalkeeper. As long as the drive is there and the body holds up, you can certainly keep playing for quite some time as a goalkeeper.”

Has the best phase of your career just begun?“If you compare with others, you can say that the best years for goalkeepers are between 28 and 34. I’m still very focused on continuing to work on myself, being motivated, enjoying it, and wanting to help the team.”

Some tactical approaches require teams to build play out from their own penalty area in a risky way. In your opinion, how risky can it be?“It always depends on the circumstances. So you can’t answer it in general terms. How often does a move really go from being planned at your own goal all the way to the opponent’s goal? It happens vanishingly rarely. That also has to be taken into account when weighing how much risk to take. You have to keep a certain degree of variety in your game. What opponent are you facing? What formation are they playing? What shape is your own team in at the moment? What phase of the game are you in? Is the opponent on top right now? There are lots of things that come into it. How is your teammate doing today? How hard is he being pressed? You have to orient yourself around that and then make the right decision.”

You haven’t missed a game for almost two years now – coincidence or the result of preventive measures?“At such a high workload, you get to know your body very well and learn what you have to listen to and how to react in the best way. I’ve adjusted quite a few things. This three-day rhythm demands more from you, especially all the traveling. It’s no coincidence that I’m now in this long spell where I can keep playing. It takes a lot of commitment, a good team, but also good balance and a certain looseness.”

“At home too, I play to win”

The 28-year-old lives a little outside Dortmund with his fiancée and their one-year-old daughter. At home, he can switch off. Reading books, preferably biographies.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.