Haaland, Bellingham, Dembélé & Merino: Borussia Dortmund's FIFA World Cup 2026 impact
Some of the biggest names in world football occupy the top six slots in the FIFA World Cup 2026 scoring chart, but three have one thing in common - they all enjoyed formative spells at Borussia Dortmund.
It seems like only yesterday that Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham were strutting their stuff at Signal Iduna Park, forging one of the game’s great bromances in the process. Ousmane Dembélé too was outstanding in his single season at the club after joining as a raw teenager in 2016.
Then there’s Spain saviour Mikel Merino, who also had a brief spell at Dortmund before establishing himself as La Roja’s World Cup supersub. We look back at the Borussia careers of the aforementioned star quartet, three of whom are preparing to feature in the World Cup semi-finals…
Haaland doing Haaland things
Norway’s free-flowing attacking football and ‘Viking row’ celebrations won them countless fans in North America - but Haaland was the undisputed star of the show.
The Manchester City striker netted seven goals in five appearances as the Scandinavians reached the quarter-finals on their first World Cup appearance since 1998. The pick of the bunch - an arrowed drive against Brazil in the last 16 - was the kind of finish Dortmund fans have seen many times before.
Haaland netted 86 goals in 89 competitive outings for the club, blossoming from a hugely promising teenager into arguably the finest thoroughbred striker in the modern game.
His astonishing catalogue of goals include a double in the 2021 DFB Cup final against RB Leipzig, which helped end BVB’s four-year wait for a trophy.
Bellingham proving indispensable
Last October, Thomas Tuchel left Bellingham out of his squad for England’s double-header against Wales and Latvia. Fast forward nine months and it is near-impossible to imagine a Three Lions team without the Stourbridge native.
With the exception of Bayern Munich star Harry Kane, no England player has come close to matching the 23-year-old’s numbers at the tournament. His six strikes - including two each against Mexico and Norway - have doubled his international goals tally and firmly cemented his place in Tuchel’s first-choice XI.
Bellingham arrived at Dortmund as a raw 17-year-old in 2020 but left as the complete package, having registered 49 goal involvements in 132 competitive appearances by the age of 19. He even got to wear the captain’s armband, which he later described as a “dream come true”.
Dembélé shining among fierce competition
Taking centre stage in an attack featuring Kylian Mbappé and Bayern assist king Michael Olise may seem like an impossible task, but Dembélé - whose five goals include a phenomenal group-stage hat-trick against Norway - has had a right good go.
Now a two-time UEFA Champions League winner with Paris Saint-Germain, Dembélé won the coveted Ballon d’Or award in 2025, but he might never have got his hands on the prestigious trophy had he not joined Borussia from Ligue 1 side Rennes in 2016.
Arguably one of the shrewdest signings in BVB’s recent history, Dembélé was involved in a Bundesliga goal every 113 minutes during his time in Germany, forming a telepathic understanding with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as Die Schwarz-Gelben lifted the 2017 DFB Cup.
Merino - the ace up Spain’s sleeve
Merino has only played 136 minutes at this World Cup, but the 30-year-old has arguably scored Spain’s two most important goals of the tournament so far.
The Pamplona native slotted home La Roja’s last-16 winner against Portugal just six minutes after coming off the bench. He then took just two minutes to make his mark against Belgium in the quarter-finals, scoring the winner from close range just two minutes after entering the fray.
Signed as a 20-year-old from Osasuna, Merino showed flashes of his remarkable versatility as a Borussia player during the 2016/17 season. Two of his nine Dortmund appearances were as a central defender, but Merino has since discovered he is better suited to scoring goals than stopping them.
Ex-Dortmund stars well represented
It has been a memorable tournament for a number of other former Dortmund stars.
Christian Pulisic, who made his Borussia debut and scored his first goal for the club before turning 18, flew out of the traps in the USA’s opener against Paraguay and looked set to be one of the co-hosts’ players of the tournament, until a calf injury disrupted his fine start.
Axel Witsel, Thomas Meunier (both Belgium), Manuel Akanji (Switzerland) and Achraf Hakimi (Morocco) all reached the quarter-finals, while Raphaël Guerreiro made it to the last 16 with Portugal.
Bellingham, Dembélé and Merino, though, still harbour hopes of lifting the famous trophy in New Jersey on 19 July.
