Nico Schlotterbeck, born on 1 December 1999 (age 26), is a German central defender with Borussia Dortmund. A commanding 6ft 3in (1.91m), he wears squad number 4 and is valued at around £34m by Transfermarkt.
His early senior football included loan experience that gave him the kind of hard minutes young centre-halves tend to need before anyone fully trusts them. That development period mattered, but the career has taken its clearest shape at Dortmund, where he has become a regular presence rather than just another promising German defender being filed away for later.
Across five league seasons with Borussia Dortmund, Schlotterbeck has made 119 league appearances and scored 12 goals. His most productive league campaign came in 2025-26, when he scored five times in 28 appearances – decent output for a centre-back, without needing to pretend he was reinventing the position.
In 2026-27, he has made seven league appearances and scored once, with nine Dortmund appearances in all competitions including two in the Champions League. He has also been involved with Germany this season, featuring in World Cup, European qualifying and Nations League matches, and scoring once at the World Cup.
Schlotterbeck’s career is now largely a Dortmund story: a tall left-sided centre-back who came through the usual development stages, took his loan education, and settled into a substantial role at one of Germany’s biggest clubs.
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