There are 36 teams participating in the League Phase of the 2025-26 UEFA Champions League, but only two of them regularly wear black and yellow kits: Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund and Norwegian side Bodø/Glimt. The two teams have never faced off in their history…until tonight.
Of course, when tonight’s Champions League League Phase battle kicks off at 3 p.m. ET (9 p.m. local), only Dortmund will be wearing its traditional home yellow, since the game will take place at Signal Iduna Park. Bodø will don a black away kit.
BVB is a -370 favorite to win and +500 to draw at DraftKings Sportsbook, while Glimt is +850 on the Moneyline.
Borussia Dortmund vs. Bodo Glimt prediction, pick
On paper, this shouldn’t be much of a competition, given that Borussia Dortmund has a combined squad market value of more than 500 million Euros on Transfermarkt and Bodø/Glimt’s is just 60 million Euros, but the Norwegians are in this competition for a reason, and the German side surely won’t take them lightly. Both have had solid seasons in their respective domestic leagues — BVB currently sits third in the Bundesliga, and Bodø missed out on its fifth Eliteserien title in six seasons by a single point when the season concluded on November 30. In the Champions League, Dortmund has been the more impressive team, as it sits in the top eight after five matches, but Glimt has been impressive for its stature, drawing twice and losing by a single goal on two other occasions, impressively drawing with Europa League winners Tottenham in Bodø.
Glimt likes to play a possession-based style from a 4-3-3 formation, controlling the ball for a majority of the game in each of its five League Phase games so far, which is quite unlike most of the other teams near the bottom of the Champions League table. All of the possession means that Bodø has had more touches, progressive carries, and carries into the penalty area than almost every other team in Europe, but the attacking aggression hasn’t resulted in wins, as it has had the fifth-worst finishing performance of any team and smashed home only seven goals from 9.9 expected goals’ worth of chances. Danish striker Kasper Waarst Høgh has had plenty of chances but has put just three of his 11 shots on target and missed both of his penalties, and even strong play from club captain Patrick Berg and Jans Petter Hauge (two goals each) has been enough to overcome Høgh’s struggles. Glimt is also vulnerable on the counter, letting Nikita Haikin face a UCL-high 8.2 shots on target per 90 minutes. Bodø has only been competitive because Haikin has been the best-performing goalkeeper in the UCL so far based on expected goal plus/minus.
However, the 30-year-old Russian hasn’t faced an attack as strong as Dortmund’s. BVB have scored more goals than any team except for title-holders Paris Saint-Germain. They’ve been ruthlessly efficient, smashing home 8.4 goals above expectation and recording three goals for every five shots on target despite missing two penalty kicks. Serhou Guirassy, who’s finished second to Harry Kane in the Bundesliga Golden Boot race in each of the past two seasons and tying Raphinha for the Champions League Golden Boot last season, has five goal contributions already, and he’s hardly alone: Felix Nmecha has three goals and Daniel Svensson, Ramy Bensebaini, and Karim Adeyemi each have two. Gregor Kobel hasn’t been in great form between the sticks, allowing 1.1 more goals than expected based on shot quality, but Switzerland’s No. 1 has demonstrated his quality in the past and has been tremendous in the Bundesliga, so it’s more promising that Dortmund’s back line has held opponents to low average shot quality than concerning that Kobel has struggled to limit the damage.
Even so, the German side’s back line has been average in terms of total shots allowed so far this competition, and it only managed to keep a clean sheet against Villarreal, which has been far more conservative offensively than Bødo’s has. With each side demonstrating so much firepower in the attack and question marks in the defense, this match should contain plenty of fireworks. If the game were in far northern Norway — where average December temperatures often sit below freezing — I may even consider picking Glimt out of respect for its attack, but it has been far worse — especially defensively — on the road, even against other Norwegian competition. I’ll take BVB to win in a shootout.
