After a 2-1 win over Sabah FC in Baku on Tuesday night, Borussia Dortmund’s players boarded the coach still sweating. The club told them to shower at the hotel, not at the Olympic Stadium. This is a precaution, not a confirmed legionella outbreak.

Coach Niko Kovač said they had not showered there after Monday’s training either. They were told to go to the hotel. Sporting director Nils-Ole Book spoke of “more inviting” hotel showers and of a dressing area that is “not quite so chic”. Bild writes, from club sources, that the worry was possible contamination of pipes if water sits. That is not a published lab test.

Sabah’s Joy-Lance Mickels told Sky the showers are fine, with hot water, and that they used them last week before Slavia Prague. He does not want to accuse BVB. The stadium, through Firuz Abdulla, denies water-supply problems. It says it passed the annual sanitary inspection and that there were no cases at the Slavia match.

News.ro picked up Bild. Spiegel notes that neither club has publicly confirmed legionella. The stadium dates from 2015. The match is Dortmund’s second win in this Champions League league phase, not the first.

The club had reserved the hotel spa for recovery after long travel. Sweaty on the bus, washed at the hotel. That is the decision, not a medical tally.

A precaution. Not an announced outbreak.

Image: Eminn, Baku Olympic Stadium, 10 October 2015, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; the arena in 2015, not a photograph of the 20 October 2026 match.

Sources consulted: Because of legionella risk, Dortmund asked players to shower at the hotel - News.ro, 21 October 2026; Why BVB professionals avoided the stadium showers in Baku - Bild, 21 October 2026.