Borussia Dortmund have signed England youth international Carney Chukwuemeka from Chelsea on a five-year contract.
The 21-year-old spent the second half of last season on loan at the German club and joins in a deal that could be worth about £24m.
The attacking midfielder made 32 appearances for Chelsea after a £20m move from Aston Villa in 2022.
Blues defender Aaron Anselmino has also agreed to join Dortmund, on a season-long loan, and has flown to Germany to complete the deal.
The Chukwuemeka transfer means Chelsea’s income from player sales this summer is more than £270m, almost balancing out the £277m spent on incoming transfers.
Record FIFA Club World Cup winners Real Madrid meet fellow Europeans, Borussia Dortmund, in the quarterfinals.
Who: Real Madrid vs Borussia Dortmund What: FIFA Club World Cup 2025 Where:MetLife Stadium, New Jersey, United States When: Saturday, July 5 at 4pm local time (20:00 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 6pm local (22:00 GMT) in advance of our live text commentary stream.
Record FIFA Club World Cup winners Real Madrid face the side they beat to claim the 2024 European crown, Borussia Dortmund, for a place in the semifinals.
Real lifted the Champions League trophy two seasons ago with a 2-0 win at Wembley Stadium in London, United Kingdom, now Dortmund have the chance to exact revenge by ending Real’s hunt for a sixth FIFA title.
That set up a blockbuster round-of-16 tie with fellow European giants Juventus. Gonzalo Garcia’s 54th-minute header was enough to seal a 1-0 win for the Spaniards against the Italians.
Real Madrid’s Gonzalo Garcia scores his side’s winning goal against Juventus [Marco Bello/Reuters]
How did Borussia Dortmund reach the quarterfinals?
Dortmund also opened with a draw – a 0-0 stalemate against Fluminense – but secured wins against South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns and South Korea’s Ulsan Hyundai.
Their top spot in Group F lead to a round-of-16 meeting with Mexico’s Monterrey. Serhou Guirassy netted in the 14th and 24th minutes, with German Berterame tightening matters in a 2-1 win for the German club.
What happened in Real Madrid’s last meeting with Borussia Dortmund?
The sides have already had one rerun of the 2024 Champions League final when they met in the League Phase of last season’s competition.
Dortmund, however, missed out on the chance to get one back on Real, who ran out 5-2 winners in the match in Spain.
Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe comes on as a substitute [Hannah Mckay/Reuters]
Real Madrid team news
Kylian Mbappe continues his return from an illness which kept him out of the group stage of the tournament. The French forward did, however, make his first appearance at this year’s CWC when he came off the bench in the 68th minute of the win against Juventus.
Borussia Dortmund team news
Dortmund midfielder Jobe Bellingham serves a one-match ban following a second booking of the competition in the win against Monterrey. It means there will be no head-to-head with his brother, Jude.
Head-to-head
This is the 17th meeting between the sides, with Real winning on eight occasions and Dortmund claiming the spoils in three of the encounters.
The Spaniards haven’t lost in the last six meetings, claiming four wins in that time. The run included the Champions League final two seasons ago when Dani Carvajal and Vinicius Junior’s goals secured the trophy for Los Blancos.
Real Madrid’s Nacho lifts the trophy as he celebrates with teammates after winning the Champions League [Lee Smith/Reuters]
How many Club World Cups have Real Madrid won?
Real Madrid have lifted the trophy, in its various guises, on a record five occasions, with their 2023 victory against Al Hilal being the last.
That does not include lifting the inaugural FIFA Intercontinental Cup in December after their victory against Pachuca, despite that competition taking on the former format of the Club World Cup.
Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso’s pre-match thoughts
“I’m really delighted with the result [against Juventus], going through, and with the performance as well. We had to work, it was going to be tough, but we were professional and did really well.”
Borussia Dortmund coach Niko Kovac’s pre-match thoughts
“We know [Xabi Alonso] very well. He worked two and a half years in Germany, and he did a fantastic job. Now he’s implementing everything he had at Bayer Leverkusen at Real Madrid. So we’re expecting the same what we had in Leverkusen, only with different players. We’re looking forward to it, but you have to play football for 90 minutes, and if we put everything on to the pitch, I think that we will have a good chance.”
German football club Borussia Dortmund sign Jobe Bellingham, who follows in the footsteps of Real Madrid star his brother Jude.
Borussia Dortmund have signed English midfielder Jobe Bellingham from Sunderland until 2030, five years after bringing older brother Jude to the club.
Dortmund announced the signing on Tuesday, the final day of the FIFA Club World Cup transfer window.
“The England U21 international put pen to paper on a five-year deal with the eight-time German champions on Tuesday morning,” Dortmund said in a statement.
Dortmund reportedly paid a fee of around 33 million euros ($38m), with five million euros ($5.7m) in additional bonuses, to secure the midfielder’s services, the most the club has paid up front for a player.
“I’m very happy to be a Borussia Dortmund player now and to fight for titles together with this great club,” said 19-year-old Bellingham.
“I want to play my part in celebrating success with these great fans here and will work on myself and with the team every day. And I’m very happy that I’ll be wearing the black and yellow jersey at the FIFA Club World Cup.”
Bellingham celebrates with the trophy in front of the fans after winning the championship play-off final with Sunderland for a place in the Premier League [Lee Smith/Reuters]
Dortmund’s transfer record remains the 35 million euros ($40m) paid to bring Ousmane Dembele from Rennes in 2018 – although this was originally 15 million euros ($17m), which rose by 20 million ($23m) in sell-on fees once the player transferred to Barcelona.
“Jobe is an extremely talented footballer with an impressive level of maturity and intelligence on the pitch for someone so young,” said Lars Ricken, Borussia Dortmund’s managing director for sport.
“We have no doubt that he’s the perfect fit for our philosophy of developing talented youngsters and giving them the opportunity to improve and establish themselves at the highest level.
“His professionalism, his dynamism and his hunger to succeed will make him a real asset for our team.”
At 19, Jobe is two years younger than his Real Madrid and England midfielder brother.
In moving to Dortmund, Jobe will follow in Jude’s footsteps of trading the Championship for the Bundesliga and the Westfalenstadion.
After leaving Birmingham City, Jude spent three seasons at Dortmund and has become one of the most recognisable players in world football since joining Real in 2023.
As he did at Sunderland, the younger Bellingham will wear “Jobe” on his jersey at Dortmund rather than his last name in a bid to distinguish himself from his brother.
Jobe scored four goals and laid on three assists in 40 games for Sunderland this season as he helped the club win promotion to the Premier League.
Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham (right) celebrates with his brother Jobe Bellingham after the former won the Champions League in 2024 [Claudia Greco/Reuters]
Jobe’s signing means the two brothers could face off in this season’s expanded Club World Cup in the United States, if Dortmund meet Real Madrid during the knockouts of the competition.
Jude Bellingham joined Dortmund from boyhood club Birmingham in 2020, at age 17 and for around 23 million euros ($26m), a fee that rose to 30 million euros ($34m) when a sell-on fee was added after his 100-million-euro ($114m) move to Real Madrid.
He made 132 appearances in yellow and black, scoring 24 times and laying on 25 assists, and helped the club win the German Cup in 2021 alongside Erling Haaland and Jadon Sancho.
After leaving Dortmund, Jude faced off against his former side in the 2023-24 Champions League final, with Real winning 2-0 at Wembley.
Jobe became the second-youngest Birmingham City player behind his brother when he made his debut aged 16 years and 107 days.
He was named the young player of the season in the English second flight, again following in his brother’s footsteps, five years on.
“He’s fit as a fiddle and raring to go,” said club sporting director Sebastian Kehl.
“He’s determined to forge his own path at Borussia Dortmund and make his mark on how we play, and we’re confident that he will do exactly that,” Kehl added.
After a disappointing 2024-25 campaign, Dortmund snuck into fourth place after a late-season flurry, picking up 22 of a possible 24 points in their final eight games. The club will take part in next season’s Champions League.
Dortmund kick off their Club World Cup campaign against Fluminense on June 17.
