“I want to create balance”
BVB change: Popp gives a rare insight into her private life
April 27, 2026 – 2:02 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Alexandra Popp is leaving VfL Wolfsburg in the summer and moving to Borussia Dortmund – also to find more balance off the pitch.
After 14 years at VfL Wolfsburg, former national team captain Alexandra Popp is moving to Borussia Dortmund in the summer. The 35-year-old has also decided to take a step back off the pitch. “I want to try to take more time for myself off the pitch. I want to be more balanced,” said Popp in an interview with Sport1.
She hopes that the move to the current third division team will give her more space for her private life. “In Dortmund I can spend more time with my friends, be in nature more, go out with my dog. I’m currently getting my hunting license – I just want to create a balance.”
On the pitch, Popp relies on joy instead of pressure: “For me, football doesn’t work through cramps, but rather through this feeling of why I’m doing it at all.” Popp also doesn’t immediately see himself as a symbolic figure for BVB. “It was said that I should become a face of the club. I find that difficult. You only become a face after many years and successes.” Even if she fulfilled her three-year contract, she wouldn’t see herself in this role.
Popp is currently recovering from a muscular injury. She still doesn’t want to miss the cup final on May 14th in Cologne: “Sure, it’ll take a while with the calf, but the rehab phase is going very well and we’re still optimistic. We’ve got our sights firmly set on the goal of the cup final.”
On May 14th she will meet FC Bayern with VfL in Cologne.
