While Borussia Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp lauded his side's progress to the Champions League final as an ''incredible journey,'' the club's advancement off the pitch is no less remarkable.
Faced with insolvency in 2005 after years of economic difficulty, Dortmund has recovered by posting club-record revenue figures and expanding its fan-base to make it the most popular club in Germany, with a broadening appeal in Europe.
''Perhaps the headline should be `From Ground Zero to Wembley.' Eight years ago, there were creditors sitting here and no journalists. It was the edge of the cliff, you couldn't get any closer,'' Dortmund chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke said Wednesday.
Dortmund faces German rival Bayern Munich at Wembley, London on May 25, but the club's last Champions League final appearance, which it won in 1997, preceded a period of turmoil and mismanagement that almost drove it to extinction.
Dortmund had been dogged by financial problems from the early 1980s, but the real danger came after the club was listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in 2000, when the proceeds were effectively squandered and costs spiraled dangerously out of control.
Expensive stars helped win the Bundesliga in 2002, but failure to advance to the Champions League the following year had dramatic consequences.
By the time Watzke faced the creditors on March 14, 2005, the club had been forced to sell its Westfalen Stadium, debts totaled more than 180 million euros and the value of shares plummeted by more than 80 percent, forcing players' wages to be cut.
''When you have to tell the markets that your existence is threatened, and then face creditors in the knowledge that you need signatures to prevent the club going out of business. If we hadn't gotten through, we would have been relegated to the amateur leagues,'' Watzke said.
The club has learned from its mistakes.
''Our main philosophy is that we will never again go one euro into debt for a transfer. We will live within our means. We can do anything but we need to have earned the money first,'' Watzke said.
Dortmund earned almost 200 million euros' revenue in the year to the end of June, 2012, with a net profit of 34 million euros. It was also a year of success on the pitch, with the club defending its Bundesliga title and then routing Bayern 5-2 in the German Cup final.
The club now leases back its 80,645-capacity stadium where it boasts Europe's biggest average attendances. Membership has jumped from 31,000 four years ago to 80,000. Some 54,000 fans are season ticket holders.
Dortmund claims to have 6.6 million fans across Germany, more than any other Bundesliga side, and a recent survey suggested most people within the country will be supporting Dortmund against Bayern.
''I'm happy with that but it doesn't surprise me,'' Watzke said in response. ''You have the history of Borussia Dortmund in the last few years. We achieved these successes by making a lot from relatively little. We're a likeable club. Bayern Munich, as the market leader, polarizes opinion. I don't think we need to go into that.''
Watzke said a key reason for Dortmund's success and the health of German football in general was the ''50+1'' rule, which states that members must hold a majority stake in their club.
''It's the most important thing. You are your own owner and you can make your own decisions. We have cheap tickets and 80,000 spectators. It's good for merchandizing,'' he said. ''It's not only rich people who can buy tickets. You're reaching people in every part of society and I think it works.''
Watzke said he felt no pressure ahead of the final due to the experience of facing creditors and pleading for the club's survival eight years ago.
''That was pressure,'' he said. ''That's why we're really looking forward to this game. We have nothing to lose now.''
