The defendant, identified only as Sergej W, in keeping with German privacy law, has been charged with 28 counts of attempted murder in the bill of indictment read out by public prosecutor Carsten Dombert on the first day of the trial.

If convicted, the defendant faces a life sentence. Wearing a blue shirt and black trousers, he was brought into the courtroom in handcuffs at 12 p.m. CET. He appeared to be calm throughout the 90 minutes inside the hearing.

The Russian-born man remained silent through most of the first day of the trial, only replying to the question of his nationality with: "Only German, I believe."

Dortmund, represented by Becker Haumann Mankel Gursky, have joined the action and have sued the defendant for €20,000 compensation for the damage done to the team bus during the attack, which happened before the Champions League match against Monaco on April 11.

Dortmund defender Marc Barta, who was injured in the attack, has also sued the defendant for a minimum of €15,000 compensation for personal suffering.

"That's only symbolic," BVB's lawyer, Ulf Haumann, said adding that Bartra had decided to donate all money to local charity.

Dortmund's lawyer was not pleased with statements made by the defendant's representative, Carl W Heydenrich, on ARD Tagesthemen, Germany's main news show, during the half-time break of the DFB Pokal match between BVB and Bayern Munich on Wednesday night.

Heydenreich had compared the majority of the metal bolts used in the bombing missing their target with a footballer missing an open goal from five metres, and questioned whether the "culprit, not the defendant" wanted to kill those inside the team bus.

"Borussia Dortmund strongly condemns this," Haumann told reporters. "The lawyer or the defendant, someone, apparently believes this is a game. But those inside the bus certainly do not believe that was a game. They feared for their lives."

Public prosecutor Dombert called Heydenreich's statement "unspeakable and cynical."

Ahead of the reading out of the indictment, Heydenreich, one of Sergej W's two lawyers, rose to speak and accused the public prosecutor of bias.

He argued that an apparent leak on the side of the investigative authorities led to a "media prejudgement" and a biased panel, with two citizens on jury service ruling on the case alongside the judge.

In recent weeks, several media outlets had published some of around 70 investigation files, including psychological profiles of the defendant commissioned to determine whether Sergej W was suicidal.

One report in Der Spiegel said he tried to kill himself on two separate occasions in 2012 and 2013.

The defendant's lawyers did not dispute that when speaking to reporters.

Heydenreich said this behaviour was "invading the defendant's privacy."

The bill of indictment accused the defendant of carrying out a "malicious attack out of greed" to kill those inside the bus.

"Had players been injured or even killed, it would have influenced Dortmund's assessment on the stock market," the indictment said.

Prosecution says that the defendant hoped to profit from a drop in the football club's share price as a result of the attack. They said he could have made a maximum profit of €506,275 in the event of a successful attack.

On the first day of the trial it became evident that the defendant's lawyers could build their strategy around the fact that the 65 metal bolts placed inside three separate bombs along the street were never directed at the team bus.

The majority of the 65 metal bolts found did not hit the bus, with at least one found inside in one of the head rests. The defendant's lawyers told reporters they have yet to see evidence a metal bolt reached the inside of the bus.

In the act of indictment it was said that four cars were also damaged in the attack, and the metal bolts were found up to 250 metres away.

Heidenreich argued after the first day of the trial that the person who placed the bombs outside the team hotel was "a technical genius" for building them.

Dortmund players will not make any public statements during the ongoing trial.

Twelve of the 18 players inside the team bus have joined the action, while the three German players who left the club during the summer -- Sven Bender, Matthias Ginter and Felix Passlack -- are also being given assistance by BVB's law firm.

If summoned to court as a witness, the BVB players could appear during the trial, Haumann added.

Barcelona winger Ousmane Dembele, Newcastle's Mikel Merino and Celta Vigo's Emre Mor have not joined the action, and the club's former coach, Thomas Tuchel, and his staff are also not represented by BVB's law firm.

The trial is set to continue on Jan. 8, and is scheduled to go on until late March.