Waldemar Anton: Borussia Dortmund's Defensive Pillar
Waldemar Anton doesn’t shout for effect. He shouts to get things done.
“It actually happens in every game that we shout at each other once,” he admitted recently, talking about his on-pitch arguments with Serhou Guirassy. The relationship can handle it. They have known each other “so long that we can tell each other what we think on the pitch too, even if it might sometimes be a bit over the top,” the Borussia Dortmund defender said.
On Saturday night in Stuttgart, Anton had fresh reason to let his former teammate know exactly what he thought.
A flash of anger, a wall of calm
In the 74th minute of Dortmund’s 1-0 win over VfB Stuttgart, Guirassy trudged towards the touchline, too slowly for Niko Kovac’s liking and too slowly for the new rules. Because of that delay, substitute Fabio Silva had to wait 60 seconds before entering. For a full minute, BVB were down to ten men.
Kovac’s irritation on the sideline was obvious. The margins in this Dortmund side are tight; the standards are higher now. Guirassy’s lapse only underlined how little room there is for sloppiness in a team built on defensive precision.
For Anton, it was just more noise around him. The real work lay elsewhere.
Back at his former club, in front of fans who still whistle and boo him every time he touches the ball after his abrupt move to Dortmund two years ago, the 30-year-old walked into a hostile arena and simply shut it out. He had plenty to cope with. Stuttgart pushed, the atmosphere crackled, the resentment from the stands never really faded.
Once again, neither he nor his team could be beaten.
Kovac’s cornerstone
Borussia Dortmund under Niko Kovac are not the freewheeling, chaotic side of old. They are something far more uncomfortable for opponents: organised, compact, relentless without the ball.
Defensive work has never been in short supply since Kovac took over. He has drilled this back line hard and long, and now the structure looks close to complete. Last season, BVB already boasted the best defence in the league, conceding just 34 goals. Four matchdays into the new campaign, they have three clean sheets and sit joint top of the defensive table with Bayern Munich, with only two goals conceded.
Anton stands at the centre of that transformation.
After a difficult first year in Dortmund, when two muscle fibre tears in quick succession sidelined him for the longest spell of his career, he has become what Kovac called months ago a “total constant” in this team. The coach rarely misses a chance to highlight his importance, even if Anton himself shows little interest in titles like “defensive leader.”
On the eve of the Champions League opener against Villarreal, Kovac did not hold back. “He is a leader. Someone who leads the way. He thinks, eats, sleeps, drinks football 24/7. Someone who supports his team-mates, never gives up and gives everything for the team – a role model.”
Those are not empty compliments. They are a description of how Dortmund function now.
The Ironman in black and yellow
Anton already delivered an outstanding season last year. He looked more secure than his partner Nico Schlotterbeck, who also missed the start of this year through injury. Kovac calls him the “Ironman,” and the numbers justify the nickname.
Out of 47 competitive matches in 2025/26, Anton missed only three. In the league and cup, he played all 35 games from start to finish. No rotations, no managed minutes, no hiding.
Even the World Cup did not knock him off course. While others eased their way back, the 15-cap Germany international had less preparation time than almost anyone in the Dortmund squad. It barely registered in his performances. He simply resumed where he had stopped: in outstanding form.
His value goes far beyond availability. He leads not by theatrics but by habits. Discipline. Mentality. Resilience. Anton plays without fuss, defends with a ruthless edge, and throws himself into duels with the conviction of a player who knows exactly where the line is and how close he can get to it.
His anticipation has become one of his defining strengths. Since Mats Hummels, no defender at BVB has stepped forward to defend on the front foot with such intelligence and timing. He reads danger early, steps in early, and often kills attacks before they ever become chances.
The data underline what the eye already sees: Anton ranks among the league’s elite for duel success, aerial dominance, interceptions and clearances. He is not just part of Dortmund’s stability. He is one of its main reasons.
Germany’s new benchmark?
On current form, there is no better German centre-back than Waldemar Anton. That is the level he has reached, and it is why his role in the national team’s reboot feels almost inevitable.
Jürgen Klopp, like Kovac, wants his team built on a rock-solid base. To play the aggressive, high-energy football he favours, he needs defenders he can trust in open spaces, in one-on-ones, in moments when the structure thins out.
Anton brings exactly that. He is experienced, physically sharp, mentally tuned in, and he organises the back line with a calm authority that younger players can lean on. For Klopp’s vision of the future DFB side, he ticks almost every box.
The competition is fierce, of course. Long term, Schlotterbeck’s strong left foot and his diagonal passing in build-up could give him an edge in certain game plans. Bayern Munich’s Jonathan Tah remains the undisputed number one in the hierarchy for now.
But the question is no longer whether Anton belongs in that conversation. It is how often he will start in it.
No ego, no doubts
Anton will not sell himself. That is not his style. Kovac once called him “very calm, very modest, very humble”: a player who pushes his own ego aside and puts the team first. For a coach, that is gold.
At Dortmund, the current league leaders, he no longer has to fight for status. His performances have settled the debate. He is the anchor, the constant, the defender around whom Kovac builds.
The boos in Stuttgart will fade one day. The numbers on the pitch will not. The only real uncertainty now lies with Germany: in a new era under Klopp, how long can anyone keep this version of Waldemar Anton out of the heart of the national team?
