Photo: Die Bildermacherei Cuxhaven, Kerstin Tietje / CC BY-SA 4.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Lars Ricken is a one-club man, and that loyalty is what I find most striking. Fifteen years entirely at Borussia Dortmund, plus becoming the youngest player ever to feature for them, tells you he was woven into that institution from the start. What impresses me even more is the second act: youth coordinator for years, then managing director. Plenty of ex-players fade out, but Ricken stayed and helped shape the club's future. That full-circle commitment, from prodigy to executive, feels increasingly rare in modern football. To me he embodies what a real club identity looks like when someone gives an organization their whole career.
Overview
Lars Ricken (born 10 July 1976) is a German retired footballer and the current managing director of Borussia Dortmund. From 2008 to 2024, he was the youth coordinator at Dortmund. Ricken represented Borussia Dortmund throughout his entire professional career, which spanned 15 years. He was the youngest player to appear for the club in an official match, a record later broken by Nuri Şahin.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Lars Ricken
- Name (Japanese)
- ラース・リッケン
- Reading
- らーす・りっけん
- Born
- July 10, 1976 (age 49)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Cancer / Dragon
- Origin
- Dortmund, Province of Westphalia, Germany
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- 178 cm
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- association football player
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Private
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Association football player — see all → · More people from Germany →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.