Such is the continuous success of the German giants, they have always been able to attract the best talent from around the world. The most talented players tend to have the biggest egos, though, which is by no means a coincidence. Successive iterations of the club’s employees, including captains, managers, and executives, have been marred by personality clashes, leaks to the press, and even full-on physical fights, leading to the press nicknaming the club FC Hollywood from the mid-1990s onwards. The name has stuck for 30 years now, and not without good reason.

In this article, I’ll be exploring ten high profile FC Hollywood incidents centred around key individuals. But believe me, I am skipping over an abundance of other flashpoints that could all be their own articles, such is the depth of the iceberg that Bayern are never far away from hitting.

Come with me as we discuss relationships (public and private), loudmouths, spying and backstabbing, all seasoned with a lovely spice native to Bavaria, named karma.

From Milan, With Hate: Lothar Matthäus vs. Jürgen Klinsmann

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away... two of Germany’s leading hotheads played for Inter Milan together for three seasons, before reuniting at Bayern in the mid-90s. During the late 1980s, Jürgen Klinsmann was one of West Germany’s most promising strikers, putting away 20 goals a year for a mediocre VfB Stuttgart, while Lothar Matthäus was scoring similar numbers as an all-action midfielder for Bayern. Matthäus moved to Inter in 1988 alongside Bayern teammate Andreas Brehme, with Klinsmann becoming the third foreign player (at a time of three foreign players per team) from the start of 1989/90. Matthäus outscored Klinsmann across their three seasons together in Milan – 41 goals to 40 – which must hurt for any striker.

Matthäus returned to Bayern in 1992, while Klinsmann moved on to Monaco and Tottenham Hotspur before his move to Bayern in 1995. Der Panzer (The Tank) Matthäus, now in his mid-30s, had been named club captain by this time, the obvious choice as he had been the World Cup (and Ballon D’Or) winning captain in 1990 with Klinsmann and deciding scorer Brehme in tow.

Bayern had finished 6^th under Giovanni Trapattoni in 1994/95, with the Italian manager’s style never truly taking hold, and Klinsmann’s arrival was sure to help Bayern back into title contention. Otto Rehhagel had been hired as manager off the back of a successful 14-year stint with Werder Bremen, and things were looking promising. Disappointingly, the arrival of Klinsmann did not suit Matthäus at all off the pitch. Rehhagel was a great motivator at Werder, pitching his side as underdogs, but this attitude was unwelcome by the elite players at Bayern that felt like they were the top dogs. This led to the alienation of several key players, particularly Klinsmann, but Matthäus got on well with Rehhagel and stuck by him while Bayern battled closely for the title with Borussia Dortmund.

While recovering from an Achilles injury midway through the season, Matthäus heard that Klinsmann was talking with national team manager Berti Vogts about keeping Matthäus out of the side for the upcoming UEFA Euro 1996 tournament in England. Matthäus gave an interview to Sport Bild (the sporting publication of Germany’s leading tabloid publication, Bild) challenging Klinsmann to a showdown on TV to tell the German public the truth. Klinsmann declined the polite invitation, but flashpoint number one of FC Hollywood was official.

Klinsmann was then offered a new contract towards the end of the season, but was unhappy with the terms it contained. Somehow, the details of the contract offer found their way to the media, with Bild getting the scoop as always. Klinsmann suspected his old friend “Loddar” Matthäus, accusing him of being a mole, and publicly criticising Rehhagel for his old-school tactics and approach. Bayern ended up finishing 2^nd and Rehhagel was replaced before the season ended by Bayern’s most legendary player, Franz Beckenbauer, who captured the UEFA Cup in May against Bordeaux. Trapattoni was brought back in over the summer of 1996 to try and tame the two men he had managed back at Inter.

Berti Vogts ultimately left Matthäus out of the Euro 1996 squad and gave Klinsmann the captaincy. Germany went on to win the tournament, giving credence to Klinsmann’s ability as a captain. Having watched at home, Matthäus went to Bayern’s general manager, Uli Hoeneß, and placed a wager of around £5,000 that Klinsmann would not score 15 league goals in the 1996/97 season.

When Klinsmann found out, he went apoplectic and launched a campaign internally to get Matthäus removed from his role as captain. Klinsmann scored exactly 15 Bundesliga goals anyway, which probably helped to shut Matthäus up.

Despite winning the Bundesliga, Klinsmann left Bayern at the end of the season, although the two would not reconcile until much later. Klinsmann revealed recently on The Overlap that him and Loddar have a good relationship these days, and they exchange messages regularly.

Eine Flasche Leer: Trapattoni Quits… ‘Indefinitely’

With Klinsmann out of the picture, Trapattoni tried to retain the title in 1997/98 by replacing his goals in the aggregate. Giovane Élber was signed from Stuttgart to be the main striker, and Carsten Jancker stepped up alongside him. The squad was generally lacking some quality, however, beyond a few key players like goalkeeper Oliver Kahn and midfield duo Mehmet Scholl and Mario Basler. Matthäus was now 36 years old and playing as a sweeper as he had lost a lot of mobility.

1. FC Kaiserslautern, who had just been promoted back to the Bundesliga with Otto Rehhagel in charge, shocked everybody by beating the reigning champions in Munich’s Olympiastadion on the opening day. They secured two wins from the next three games and sat happily at the top of the table at the end of August. But this was just a fluke, as there was no way that a promoted side would seriously challenge for the title, right? In a script too far-fetched even for Hollywood executives, Kaiserslautern stayed perched at the top of the table for the rest of the season, claiming an incredible second Bundesliga crown, and the only side to ever win the Bundesliga as a promoted club. The karmic nature of Rehhagel’s victory was not lost on Bayern’s fans.

Trapattoni’s Bayern followed closely throughout, but three consecutive losses from February into March led to one of the most bizarre and memorable moments in German football history.

Two days after the 1:0 loss away to Schalke, “Trap”, as he was affectionately known, gave a three-and-a-half-minute rant to the media instead of taking questions during a scheduled press conference. He complained about leaks from players (Matthäus being a suspect yet again, alongside Mario Basler and Thomas Strunz) and essentially yelled at the media for criticising his tactics and player selection for not being dynamic or offensive enough.

What the rant, or ‘Wutrede’ (angry speech) as it became known, was instantly famous for was the strange turns of phrase Trapattoni used as he delivered his impassioned tirade in broken German. He described his players as being ‘schwach wie eine Flasche leer’, literally ‘weak like a bottle empty’, and took aim at Strunz: ‘was erlauben Strunz?’ which transliterates as ‘what allows Strunz?’ before finishing by saying ‘ich habe fertig’ i.e. ‘I have finished’ and walking away (NB: while ‘I have finished’ makes sense in English, it does not make sense in German, and it should have been ‘I am finished’).

This incident fed into the media’s narrative of Trapattoni’s lack of competency, and he would ultimately close out his second stint managing Bayern at the end of the season, having lost the title to the man he replaced in the role. Perhaps he should have shut his Trap.

Effenberg - He’s At It Again!

I mentioned that Bayern have employed countless players with big egos in the introduction to this article, but this man had an ego the size of Jupiter and he chose to let everyone know it.

Stefan Effenberg played for Bayern from 1990 to 1992 after coming through the ranks at Borussia Mönchengladbach, just as Matthäus had done. To continue the comparisons to Matthäus, Effenberg was an all-rounder in midfield and went off to play in Italy, although Effenberg joined Fiorentina for two years from 1992 to 1994. Effenberg’s banishment from the German national team preceded Matthäus’ own, however, as Berti Vogts dropped him midway through the 1994 World Cup for showing the middle finger to Germany fans after being substituted during a 3:2 win over South Korea. Effenberg never played competitively for Germany again.

Effenberg returned to Gladbach that summer, before re-joining Bayern in 1998, where Matthäus had relinquished the captaincy to Thomas Helmer and Ottmar Hitzfeld had become Trapattoni’s managerial replacement. After winning the 1998/99 Bundesliga title, Effenberg became the captain himself, and he chose to rule with an iron fist.

Known for his temperament on and off the pitch (did I mention the middle finger to his own fans?), Der Tiger never gave the impression of someone with low blood pressure. Following a drink-driving conviction in 1999 where he was more than double over the limit, he was allowed to keep the captaincy and got his affairs in order... at least with the alcohol use.

Around the same time, news broke that Effenberg was having an affair with Claudia Strunz, the wife of a certain Thomas Strunz, Effenberg’s teammate. Effenberg was also married at this time, the scandal rocked Bayern to its very core, and the story was top billing in German media for days. Strunz (Thomas) retired in 2000 and Effenberg married Strunz (Claudia) in 2004, and they are still together today.

Fully revelling in his role as the ‘bad boy’, Effenberg continued to push, kick and generally fight his opponents (and sometimes teammates) on the pitch, as Bayern went on to win three Bundesliga titles in a row and the 2000/01 Champions League. Effenberg left Bayern in 2002 and finally retired in 2004 after stints with Wolfsburg and Qatari side Al-Arabi.

Undoubtedly a complete player and excellent leader on the pitch, Effenberg couldn’t resist insulting his teammates when he wrote his autobiography in 2003. In the midst of his brash, vulgar and boastful tales of success, he reserved a chapter for our old friend Matthäus, which he titled ‘What Lothar Matthäus knows about football’.

The chapter was one page long. The page was blank.

I’m Not The Two Popes

With a vacancy in the role of captain in 2002, you’d be forgiven for thinking Hitzfeld might want someone a bit more relaxed and friendly to take over. Unfortunately, Hitzfeld opted for the only player in Bayern’s history that was more temperamental than Effenberg.

Oliver Kahn is one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, but he is widely known for being a complete madman as well. On the pitch, he struck Miroslav Klose in the face, bit Heiko Herrlich, throttled his own teammate Thomas Brdarić, and was given a second yellow card once for punching the ball into the opponent’s net. Off the pitch, Der Titan garnered plenty of media attention for his antics, with two particular incidents standing out.

In October 2002, just months after being named club captain, Kahn was granted time off to recuperate at home from an injury but was instead pictured leaving a nightclub in his hometown of Karlsruhe at 5:30am. Hitzfeld was fuming and issued a fine to his captain, while Kahn responded to questioning from Kicker magazine by saying ‘I’m not the Pope’.

In 2003, he was back in the tabloids for his nightclub antics again. This time, however, it was a personal issue. With his wife Simone only a matter of days away from giving birth to their second child, Kahn, 34 at the time, decided to leave her for a 21-year-old nightclub waitress named Verena, who essentially became a celebrity overnight. Certainly not a papal act.

The media circus followed Kahn around for some time, and the relationship lasted for several years afterwards. Kahn retired in 2008 and remarried in 2011, while ‘Lady Verena’, as the press dubbed her, became a contestant on Germany’s Big Brother in 2024.

The Not-So-Silence of the Lahm

When Hitzfeld left Bayern in 2004, the Stern des Südens poached Stuttgart manager Felix Magath to take over after impressing with consecutive top four finishes in the previous two seasons. Magath was a good fit initially, winning back-to-back Bundesliga titles, but poor results in 2006/07 caused Bayern to bring Hitzfeld back to save the league campaign. Magath’s old club, Stuttgart, would go on to win the league that year with Bayern finishing 4^th, and he would start the next campaign in charge at Wolfsburg.

By this point, Klinsmann had taken charge of the national team and achieved 3^rd place in the 2006 World Cup, with Germany as the host country. He declined to renew his contract, taking some time off before being hired by Bayern for the 2008/09 season. Dutch midfielder Mark van Bommel was the new captain, with academy boy Philipp Lahm becoming the vice-captain after being one of the standouts of that World Cup campaign.

Despite newly promoted side TSG Hoffenheim entering the Christmas break as surprise league leaders, Bayern wrestled the position away from them by February and were still competing in the DFB-Pokal and Champions League. By the end of April, everything had unravelled, with Bayern now trailing Magath’s Wolfsburg as well as Stuttgart in the league and being knocked out in the quarter-final of both cup competitions by Bayer Leverkusen and Barcelona, respectively. Klinsmann was fired with the club in turmoil, Germany’s most promising managerial prospect having failed in the job everyone wants, and Magath having sealed his revenge on the club that spurned him.

Philipp Lahm was not best pleased at the whole situation. Later in 2009, he gave a scathing interview to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, which shocked club executives as Lahm was seen as a sensible figure, nothing like the volatility of Effenberg or Kahn. Lahm criticised the club for lacking any sort of philosophy, including its transfer policy as he didn’t think Bayern had any world class players. Although large sections of the fanbase were behind him, as they were equally dissatisfied, chairman Franz Beckenbauer and general manager Uli Hoeneß were outraged and fined Lahm €50,000, a record fine at the club. Effenberg and Kahn weren’t even fined half of that for their drunken antics.

Still not satisfied with causing friction at his club, Lahm turned his attention to his national team captain, Michael Ballack. I could have written about several FC Hollywood moments from Ballack’s four years with Bayern, so I had to include him somehow. Coming to the end of his career, and playing for Chelsea in the Premier League, Ballack sustained an injury that ruled him out of the 2010 World Cup, and Lahm inherited the armband.

After finishing the tournament in 3^rd place again, Lahm told the German media that he had enjoyed being the captain and wanted to continue. Having never discussed it with Ballack or the manager, Joachim Löw, Ballack was incensed and Löw was simply hoping that Ballack would choose to retire. On 98 caps, the DFB tried to persuade him to participate in two upcoming friendlies to reach a century, but Ballack took this as an insult and refused again. Meanwhile, Lahm refused to apologise and even doubled down on his claim to the captaincy, which had gained credence when he became Bayern’s captain in January 2011 when van Bommel was sold to Milan.

Seemingly unable to stop running his mouth, Lahm was just about to launch his autobiography in 2011 when Bild got hold of some excerpts which they promptly published. Lahm had lambasted every manager he’d played for. He said that players only did fitness training under Klinsmann, with little tactical planning, claimed that Magath was a ruthless authoritarian, and Bayern’s manager from 2009 to 2011, Louis van Gaal, for lacking adaptability and introspection.

With it being too late in the publishing phase for changes, Lahm was sent to the slaughter. He had included a section in the book providing some ill-informed advice for gay footballers, arguing that they should not come out due to likely retaliation against them. This advice was not at all in line with the DFB’s policy. For Lahm to retain his captaincy, Löw, amongst other DFB executives, ordered him to apologise for these statements. Lahm did as he was asked and went on to captain Germany to their famous World Cup victory in 2014.

In the Red Corner: Robbery’s Rocky Relationship

Following on from Lahm’s eventful 2010/11 campaign, and with Bayern having lost the league title to Borussia Dortmund, the club was looking to get back to winning ways. With the Champions League final due to be held at the Allianz Arena, seven years after the stadium’s grand opening, Bayern sensed a huge opportunity.

Having reached the semi-final, Jupp Heynckes’ team faced off against a Real Madrid side desperately chasing La Décima - a 10^th Champions League title.

Star players Arjen Robben and Franck Ribéry had struck up a lovely partnership on either wing, and had become known by the portmanteau ‘Robbery’. Having put Bayern a goal up in the first leg, Ribéry was stood over a free-kick hoping to consolidate the lead in front of the home fans. Robben instructed Ribéry to let Toni Kroos take it, and the Frenchman was insulted.

Entering the dressing room at half-time, the two clearly didn’t see eye to eye, but Robben certainly saw fist to eye. Ribéry punched the Robben in the face, with the Dutchman returning for the second half with an increasingly swelling bruise under his right eye.

Bayern won the first leg 2:1 with a last-minute winner from Mario Gómez, assisted by Lahm who was revelling in the captaincy now. Bayern eventually progressed with a famous penalty shootout win in the Bernabéu where Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaká and Sergio Ramos all missed. Having lost the Bundesliga title to Dortmund again, this was Bayern’s chance to save their season.

But what goes around, comes around, and it was Bayern’s turn in the final to lose on penalties on their home turf. Despite the match nominally being played at a neutral venue, Bayern fans naturally packed the city on matchday expecting to lift the trophy against Chelsea.

Arjen Robben - now without the bruise – missed a penalty in extra time that would have likely won Bayern the game. Ivica Olić and Bastian Schweinsteiger missed their spot kicks in the shootout to allow Chelsea to win their first Champions League title.

Oh well, you can always go on to win the treble next year.

Legally Grey: Uli Hoeneß is Sent Down

30 years as general manager of any football club is impressive, but especially at one of the biggest and most successful clubs on the planet. Uli Hoeneß was a successful foil for Bayern’s record goalscorer, the great Gerd Müller, during the 1970s, winning three Bundesliga titles and three consecutive European Cups and scoring 115 goals himself. Although his playing career was curtailed prematurely at age 27 due to persistent injuries, Hoeneß went straight into being general manager upon retirement in 1979 and presiding over all the FC Hollywood business mentioned so far.

He was eventually elected as President in 2009, and the club enjoyed the aforementioned treble winning 2012/13 season with him in the role. But only weeks before the end of the season, Hoeneß found himself in deep trouble.

Journalists began reporting that Hoeneß was under investigation for tax evasion, owing €28.5million in taxes to the German state from money that he was holding in a Swiss bank account. Hoeneß was eventually prosecuted with his trial due to begin in March 2014. The club’s supervisory board stood by him throughout the trial, which was controversial amongst fans and scrutinised heavily by the media.

In the real world, the likes of Hoeneß tend to get away with these things, as many in Hollywood have done. But in this movie, the villain got his comeuppance, as Hoeneß was found guilty on seven counts of tax evasion and sentenced to three and a half years in prison. He served his sentence in Landsberg Prison, perhaps best known for being the location where a certain Adolf Hitler wrote/dictated Mein Kampf.

Hoeneß naturally had to resign from his roles as Bayern’s President and Chairman of the holding company. After six months in Landsberg, Hoeneß was granted day release and returned to prison every evening. Hoeneß was released in February 2016 having served half of his sentence, and reprised his role in November 2016, completely unopposed. With the soap opera now over, the media relaxed their coverage of Hoeneß for the most part. Hoeneß finally retired in November 2019, just over 40 years after retiring as a player.

We’re Talking About Practice!

After three years in charge at Bayern, the enigmatic Pep Guardiola chose to leave the club, and Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti was appointed to be his replacement. Don Carlo has won everywhere he’s been, and he promptly became the first (and still only) manager to win the title in each of the top five European leagues, finishing 15 points clear of RB Leipzig in the 2016/17 season.

But Ancelotti had won two Champions League titles with Milan, as well as one with Real Madrid, and everyone knew that he was brought in to win the trophy that Guardiola couldn’t. Bayern fell at the quarter-final stage to Real Madrid in 2016/17, with a final aggregate score of 6:3 as Real struck three times in extra-time of the second leg against 10 men.

Philipp Lahm retired that year, and goalkeeper Manuel Neuer took over the captaincy, with Thomas Müller being named as vice-captain. Bayern started the following season in decent form, going 4-1-1 in the first six league games and beating Anderlecht 3:0 in the opening Champions League fixture.

But unfortunately for Ancelotti, there were murmurings. Most of the core senior players felt that Ancelotti was not working them hard enough during training, as he preferred a lighter workload for his players during the week compared to the likes of Guardiola and Heynckes. Having tried and failed to explain their dissatisfaction to Ancelotti, in a completely unheard-of situation at an elite European club the core players organised secret high-intensity sessions on their own. The aging Ribéry and Robben were chief amongst them, but also Neuer, Müller, and Germany’s starting centre-back pairing Mats Hummels and Jérôme Boateng were part of the mutinous group. They also went over Ancelotti’s head to complain to Hoeneß and Bayern’s CEO, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, trying to engineer the Italian’s dismissal.

Having caught wind of his players’ stunt, Ancelotti rang the changes for a group stage clash with his former employers, Paris St-Germain. Robben, Ribéry and Hummels were benched, and Boateng was left out of the matchday squad. PSG walked all over Bayern, winning 3:0 on the night, completely humiliating Ancelotti.

Don Carlo was sacked almost immediately after the final whistle, and none of the players stood up for him in their post-match interviews when questioned. Heynckes was brought back for a second bite at the cherry, but it was Real Madrid standing in the way again when it got to the semi-final stage. Bayern fought valiantly at the Bernabéu but ultimately lost 4:3 on aggregate.

Nagelsmann Frozen Out: A Bad Advert for Skiing

Over the next few years, things were going swimmingly for FC Hollywood. Minor plotlines reared their heads, but nothing that created significant shockwaves in the media and amongst the fanbase. Hansi Flick coached the team to another treble win during the 2019/20 season which was significantly interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which is certainly movie material in itself.

But if you take the wrong turn in Fröttmaning, you will end up in Tinseltown, and in the 2022/23 season, Bayern wandered down a dark alley.

Manuel Neuer, having copied predecessor Oliver Kahn’s move of leaving his wife at age 34 for a woman far too young for him, was enjoying Christmas time in the Alps after Germany’s disastrous 2022 World Cup campaign. Out on the slopes, he suffered a broken leg which would keep him out for the remainder of the season. Bayern’s head coach, Julian Nagelsmann, took the opportunity to relieve the club’s goalkeeping coach of his duties.

You see, Toni Tapalović was not just Bayern’s goalkeeping coach since Neuer arrived at the club in 2011, he was also the best man at Neuer’s wedding(s). Tapalović had been accused of leaking private conversations between coaches to the Bayern players, or gossiping, to give it its real name. Nagelsmann understandably didn’t take kindly to that, and Neuer’s long-term injury gave Nagelsmann the opportunity to make a change he was clearly angling for.

Neuer was blindsided by the decision and gave an interview to the Süddeutsche Zeitung and The Athletic where he criticised the board for their handling of the situation, calling it ‘the most brutal situation in my career’. Let’s do the maths quickly – we’ve had Matthäus, Effenberg, Kahn, Lahm and now Neuer taking aim at either the board or the manager, although usually both. That’s five of the seven captains since the inception of FC Hollywood, although Thomas Helmer and Mark van Bommel have certainly been critical of Bayern executives after leaving the club too.

With Neuer still out, Nagelsmann was focused on battling Dortmund to claim Bayern’s 11^th consecutive Bundesliga title when he decided to take a little trip to the Alps himself. Bayern had just lost top spot in the league away at Bayer Leverkusen, but there was a break for international fixtures and Nagelsmann wanted a few days off. Oliver Kahn, now the CEO, decided with President Herbert Hainer that this was the right time to remove Nagelsmann from the role he began less than two years prior.

In an act of espionage, the decision was announced to the media before Nagelsmann was ever contacted by the club. Nagelsmann innocently picked up a phone call from a journalist while standing on a ski slope in Austria who asked him if the news was true, which his personal management later said he believed was a practical joke. It’s not so fun to be blindsided by your own sacking when you’re just trying to enjoy a skiing trip, is it?

Nagelsmann’s team rang Bayern’s sporting director Hasan ‘Brazzo’ Salihamidžić, who played for Bayern from 1998 to 2007 and knows the club’s propensity for drama all too well. Brazzo and Kahn were acutely aware that former Dortmund, PSG and Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel was being courted by Real Madrid, and they couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to bring him in. They also had the backing of Uli Hoeneß, who said that Nagelsmann’s holiday ‘sent out the wrong message’.

Tuchel was announced the same day, and Bayern were eliminated from the Champions League and DFB-Pokal to kill their hopes of another treble. Dortmund’s capitulation on the final matchday allowed Bayern to sneak through and retain the title, so Kahn and Brazzo came away with something to show for their choice to play kingmaker. Jamal Musiala scored an 89^th-minute winner at Köln to overtake Dortmund by one point, while Dortmund’s 96^th-minute equaliser at home to Mainz was only enough to draw level on points while remaining behind on goal difference.

Kahn and Brazzo clearly thought that they were calling the shots, but their celebration of Musiala’s winner was cut short by Bayern’s supervisory board informing them that they were both being fired effective immediately only moments after the final whistle. The betrayal at Bayern seemingly never ends.

Red Rocky II: Another Champions League Bust-Up

Let’s row back slightly to the Champions League exit that Tuchel presided over.

Having won his first two games in charge in the Bundesliga, Tuchel faced a stern test away to Guardiola’s Manchester City in the quarter-final first leg. Towards the end of a 3:0 humbling, the new duo of star wingers, Leroy Sané and Sadio Mané, did their best to emulate the Robbery boxing match of 2012.

Beginning their altercation on the pitch, Mané remonstrated with his teammate after Sané played a bad pass. The argument continued into the dressing room, where Mané threw a punch that left Sané bleeding from his lip, and other players had to physically intervene. The alleged Mark Twain quote springs to mind: ‘history doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme’.

Mané, despite being the senior player of the two, was essentially ostracised from the squad after this incident, having massively disappointed since signing from Liverpool at the beginning of the season. Bayern signed Harry Kane to take over as the chief goalscorer for 2023/24, but the Mané-Kane-Sané trio be damned, Sadio was sold on to Al-Nassr in the same transfer window. Leroy Sané stayed with Bayern for two more years before being sold to Galatasaray at the start of the 2025/26 season, while Kane now leads the line and is the third-choice captain for the club.

Are We Following the Red Brick Road?

Since Tuchel’s sacking after a disastrous 3^rd-place finish in 2023/24 - which could be yet another article in itself – and a frantic managerial search which led to the appointment of Vincent Kompany, things have largely cooled off at Bayern.

High-profile storylines such as the unceremonious departure of Thomas Müller after 16 years of service, or pressure from Hoeneß scrutinising Max Eberl’s record as sporting director, continue to hover in the Bavarian night sky.

Neuer is now entering his tenth season as Bayern captain and will turn 41 in January. Someone will have to inherit that armband, and the responsibility and chaos that comes with it. Will it land on another player with an ego as noticeable as their leadership qualities? Or will Bayern be able to finally establish a rare period of calm for a few years?

What we do know is that there are already enough flashpoints in the history of FC Hollywood to create a litany of Saipans.

With Stuttgart kicking off the 2026/27 Bundesliga tomorrow (Friday 28^th) away at Bayern München, this series of articles comes to a close as we assess the fortunes of southwest Germany’s biggest team. Thank you all for your support for these articles whether you are liking, commenting, reposting or just reading them - it all helps to push The Bundesliga Chronicles out to a larger audience. Enjoy the final part!

Club Name: VfB Stuttgart

Founded: 1893

Stadium: MHPArena - 60,058 capacity

Nickname: Die Schwaben (The Swabians), Die Roten (The Reds)

Titles: Bundesliga x3, DFB-Pokal x5, DFL-Supercup x1

Head Coach: Sebastian Hoeneß

Captain: Deniz Undav

Mascot: Fritzle the Crocodile

Goal Song: Pennywise – Bro Hymn

2025/26 Season: 4^th

Opening Fixture: Bayern (A)

Head Coach:

The Hoeneβ name is gigantic in the world of German football. The brothers Uli and Dieter Hoeneβ, despite never actually playing together, are both legends for their time as strikers for Bayern München, with Uli going on to serve as President of the club. Meanwhile, Dieter would serve in various executive roles at 1. FC Nürnberg, VfL Wolfsburg and Stuttgart. It would be the last of these three that eventually appointed Dieter’s son Sebastian as the first-team Head Coach in 2023.

Sebastian’s playing career lacked the prestige of his father and uncle, but his managerial ability is unquestionable, and aged just 44, he still has plenty to give to Stuttgart and potentially elite European sides in the future. After retiring as a player aged just 28, while playing for Hertha Berlin’s reserve team, Hoeneß jumped into youth team management with semi-pro club Hertha Zehlendorf, before moving to RB Leipzig and Bayern in similar roles.

His first senior managerial appointment came in July 2019, becoming Head Coach of Bayern’s reserve side following promotion from the Regionalliga Bayern to the 3. Liga in 2018/19. Hoeneβ did the unthinkable, and unrewardable, by winning the 3. Liga title with his Bayern reserve side that featured some notable names such as Crystal Palace’s Chris Richards, Manchester United’s Joshua Zirkzee, and Stuttgart’s current midfield technician, Angelo Stiller. I use the word “unrewardable” since the German league system does not allow reserve sides to play within two tiers of their respective senior sides, effectively barring any reserve team from playing in the 2. Bundesliga permanently.

Hoeneβ was immediately poached by TSG Hoffenheim, and after Bundesliga finishes of 11^th and 9^th, he left by mutual consent, having 11 months out before Stuttgart gave him the call. His debut season (2023/24) with Die Schwaben saw the club finish 2^nd, above Bayern, their best finish since winning the Bundesliga in 2006/07, and qualifying for the club for the Champions League. The following season, Hoeneβ picked up his first major piece of silverware by beating Arminia Bielefeld in the DFB-Pokal final, coming close to retaining it in 2025/26 when they reached the final again but lost to Bayern.

Hoeneβ deploys an incredibly fluid style of play, nominally setting his team up in a 4-2-3-1 but instructing his players to move freely while in possession, often leading to building up in a 3-2-5 that creates overloads in attacking areas. However, out of possession, Stuttgart go straight to pressing in a 4-4-2 shape, with the number 10 moving up to the front line to cut off the passing lanes of the opponent’s centre-backs. This has worked to force mistakes and create quick turnovers, with Stuttgart averaging 56% possession last term, the third-highest in the league.

Transfers:

With a strong first-team squad that is now well-settled at the club, Hoeneβ prioritised purchasing good squad options that would provide competition and depth to his starters. Stuttgart dropped €25m on German youth international Dženan Pejčinović, who scored 12 times for a relegated Wolfsburg last season. The 21-year-old striker opened his account for his new club in the DFB-Pokal first round over the weekend, bagging a hattrick away at Hansa Rostock.

Also signed to provide competition are the €15m Slovakian winger Leo Sauer, who impressed at Feyenoord last term, while 31-year-old midfielder Grischa Prömel reunites with Hoeneβ by joining for free from Hoffenheim. Lastly, Bilal El Khannouss’ loan from Leicester City was made permanent for another €15m after proving his worth as a rotational option.

The key departure to consider here is Alexander Nübel, the goalkeeper that spent the last three seasons on loan from Bayern. It has become increasingly clear that Nübel would not be able to dislodge Manuel Neuer or the new protégé, Jonas Urbig, and Bayern made the decision to ship him off to Beşiktaş and promote 20-year-old Dennis Seimen. Seimen played every game for Paderborn as a loanee last season, achieving promotion to the Bundesliga, although it remains to be seen if he is ready to cope with playing for a team competing near the top and in the Champions League.

The only major sale was young Serbian striker Jovan Milošević to SC Braga for €8m. Milošević had made a decent impact on loan at Werder Bremen in the second half of 2025/26, but with the signing of Pejčinović, there was no place for him in Hoeneß’ plans. I highlighted the loan moves of Noah Darvich to Elversberg and Laurin Ulrich to Paderborn in those clubs’ respective previews, with both players being potential starters for Hoeneß next season.

A final change to be aware of amongst the personnel is in the captaincy. Midfielder Atakan Karazor has worn the armband for several seasons, but is relinquishing his duties due to his limited playing role in the squad. Deniz Undav was the named captain in the DFB-Pokal game, and it is believed that he will continue in the role throughout the season.

Key Player:

There is little doubt about this one, as Deniz Undav is inextricably critical to Hoeneß’ team, and they lack so much bite without him. Angelo Stiller is a close second due to his incredible tactical nous and passing range, but he is less impactful than Undav for me.

In his three seasons at Stuttgart, 30-year-old Undav has scored 57 goals despite spending a lot of time as a withdrawn striker behind Serhou Guirassy initially, and now Ermedin Demirović. It is no coincidence that his time at Stuttgart, dramatic improvement in form, increase in output, breakthrough as a German international etc. has all occurred under Hoeneß. The coach improves his players and knows how to relate to them off the pitch in a way that will reap rewards once they cross that white line.

Of Undav’s 25 goals in all competitions last season, not one was a penalty – he just knows how to find the net. Add 14 assists into the mix and Stuttgart have got themselves quite the talent on their Swabian hands.

Predicted Line-up:

My only real question mark is around who will accompany Angelo Stiller in midfield. With Karazor now playing a limited role, and Prömel being brought in as reinforcement, it could be a scrap between Prömel, Chema Andrés, and even Nikolas Nartey for that spot.

Predicted Finish:

I know that this will seem harsh but I’ve gone for 6^th. Not many managers last four, five, six years in elite football these days, and I just have the feeling that Hoeneß has taken this squad about as far as it can go, and that the Champions League campaign will interfere with their domestic schedule. But I’m happy to be proven wrong, as this team is fascinating to watch when they’re on form, with plenty of goals flying in – only Bayern outscored them last season.

Final Prediction Table!

1 - Bayern München
2 - Borussia Dortmund
3 - Bayer Leverkusen
4 - Eintracht Frankfurt
5 - RB Leipzig
6 - Stuttgart
7 - Hoffenheim
8 - Union Berlin
9 - Freiburg
10 - Schalke
11 - Mainz
12 - Werder Bremen
13 - Hamburg
14 - Augsburg
15 - Borussia Mönchengladbach
16 - Elversberg
17 - Köln
18 - Paderborn

Club Name: TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

Founded: 1899

Stadium: Rhein-Neckar-Arena – 30,150 capacity

Nickname: Die Kraichgauer (The Kraichgauers)

Titles: No major titles

Head Coach: Christian Ilzer

Captain: Oliver Baumann

Mascot: Hoffi the Moose

Goal Song: Rhein-Neckar-Helden – Wir Sind Hoffe

2025/26 Season: 5^th

Opening Fixture: Köln (A)

Head Coach:

Appointed in November 2024, Austrian coach Christian Ilzer has managed to work wonders with this Hoffenheim team.

After being unable to make it as a senior professional player due to several ligament injuries, Ilzer began as an assistant at various clubs in his home country, before taking charge briefly at TSV Hartberg in 2015. Ilzer returned to Hartberg in 2017 and achieved promotion to the Austrian Bundesliga, before moving on to Wolfsberger AC and FK Austria Wien.

His biggest success, however, came at Sturm Graz. After leaving Vienna for Graz in the summer of 2020, Ilzer slowly progressed his team as they challenged perennial champions Red Bull Salzburg in 2021/22 and 2022/23. In 2023/24, they clinched the title on the final matchday and Ilzer, who was already being tracked by several German clubs at the time, was now one of the hottest properties in the German-speaking football world.

Hoffenheim dismissed Pellegrino Matarazzo early in the 2024/25 to bring in Ilzer with the club struggling in 15^th. The Austrian managed to turn their fortunes around to keep them up in, er, 15^th. But it was what he did last season that was incredible.

Ilzer found a system that would get the best out of his attacking options, and Hoffenheim quietly went about achieving some fantastic results, including five wins in a row after the winter break. By the final matchday of the season, they were level on points with Stuttgart for the final Champions League spot, although behind by five on goal difference. Inexplicably, Hoffenheim were battered 4:0 at Borussia Mönchengladbach, meaning that they couldn’t capitalise on Stuttgart’s slip-up at Eintracht Frankfurt, where they gave up a two-goal lead in a game that ended level. But to even be near Champions League qualification was a wild success in the eyes of Ilzer, the players, the fans, and the board, and Europa League football presents a huge opportunity for the club this season.

Transfers:

I’ll kick off with the expensive sale, as it changed a lot about the purchasing power of the club. 20-year-old Ivorian left-winger Bazoumana Touré was flying under the radar of a lot of big clubs, who were perhaps too concerned with chasing his compatriot Yan Diomandé. Newcastle United took advantage, presenting Hoffenheim with €50m that they would have been silly to turn down for the player’s signature.

That money allowed the club to reinvest in key positions that lacked depth. By far the biggest coup was the signing of Nathan de Cat, a 6ft4 midfielder hailing from Belgium that starred for Anderlecht last campaign at the tender age of 17, and only just turned 18 in July. With plenty of Europe’s elite courting the teenager, he made a smart career move by heading to Hoffenheim where he knows Ilzer will allow him to continue his development and avoid the attention circus that signing for Premier League or La Liga giants would bring. I expect him to do big things in the future and I know I’m not the only one that thinks so.

Other purchases include right-wingers Adam Daghim (€13.5m) and Patrick Wimmer (€10m), signing from Red Bull Salzburg and Wolfsburg, respectively. Dutch left-back Mats Rots, aged 20, has moved for €12m from FC Twente to provide competition for Bernardo.

Some cheaper outgoings are worth noting too – midfielder Muhammed Damar to Wolfsburg for €5.5m, striker Haris Tabaković to Red Bull Salzburg for €5m after a decent loan spell with Gladbach, and left-back Hennes Behrens to Augsburg for €3.5m. Others have left on loan – Gift Orban (Amed SK), Umut Tohumcu (Red Bull Salzburg), Nahuel Noll and Deniz Zeitler (both Elversberg).

First-teamers leaving for free are Grischa Prömel (to Stuttgart), Attila Szalai (to Pogoń Szczecin), Kevin Akpoguma (Frosinone), and Ihlas Bebou (unattached).

Key Player:

Do keep a watchful eye on Nathan de Cat, as he could easily break into the starting XI, but the main player to be looking out for is Fisnik Asllani.

The Berlin-born Kosovan international is now 24 and entering only his second Bundesliga season, but you don’t get linked with Barcelona if you’re no good. Asllani is 6ft3 but possesses impressive technical ability and has been somewhat converted from a striker to a number 10 role under Ilzer because of it. Having bagged 18 goals on loan at Elversberg in 2024/25, he was clearly ready for Hoffenheim’s first team and has truly seized his opportunity with both hands, scoring 10 Bundesliga goals and providing seven assists in his new withdrawn role.

A recent move to RB Leipzig looked all done and dusted, but Leipzig called it off due to some concerns raised during his medical, which Hoffenheim disputed. So, of course there is a caveat to my choice of him as a key player, because there could be some fitness or injury issues on the horizon. But for now, he undoubtedly remains my pick.

Predicted Line-up:

This line-up is reasonably straightforward to predict, as Ilzer avoids tinkering with his player selection, formation and tactical plan. It mostly just hinges on whether some of the younger players recently signed (Rots, de Cat, Daghim) are able to stake their claim to be a starter under Ilzer, and I think they will make a real fist of it.

Predicted Finish:

I’ve got Hoffenheim in 7^th this campaign. Although that does sound like a step backwards, I think it just comes down to how well the squad handles playing Europa League football alongside the usual Bundesliga campaign. Although plenty of players have come through the door, roughly the same number, if not more, have exited which means that the squad depth is not as strong as some of the other top clubs. But the talent level is still higher than it was perceived 12 months ago, which is why I think they should be able to fight for European positions again.

Prediction Table (almost there...)

1 - Bayern München
2 - Borussia Dortmund
3 - Bayer Leverkusen
4 - Eintracht Frankfurt
5 - RB Leipzig
6 -
7 - Hoffenheim
8 - Union Berlin
9 - Freiburg
10 - Schalke
11 - Mainz
12 - Werder Bremen
13 - Hamburg
14 - Augsburg
15 - Borussia Mönchengladbach
16 - Elversberg
17 - Köln
18 - Paderborn

Club Name: SV Werder Bremen

Founded: 1899

Stadium: Weserstadion – 42,100 capacity

Nickname: Die Grün-Weißen (The Green-Whites), Die Werderaner (The River Islanders)

Titles: Bundesliga x4, DFB-Pokal x6, DFL-Ligapokal x3, UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup x1

Head Coach: Daniel Thioune

Captain: Marco Friedl

Mascot: Toni the Seagull

Goal Song: The Proclaimers - I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)

2025/26 Season: 15^th

Opening Fixture: Freiburg (A)

Yes, it’s me!

Head Coach:

Entering his first full season as a Bundesliga coach, Daniel Thioune has taken the progressive route through the divisions and fully deserves his shot at the highest level. Thioune replaced Horst Steffen in February 2026 with the club having won just four of 20 league games and being knocked out in the DFB-Pokal first round.

After mostly representing VfL Osnabrück during his playing career, he moved into coaching with their academy upon retirement. He worked his way up to become the club’s Head Coach in 2017, and in doing so, became the first black professional manager in German football history, owing to being half-Senegalese through his father. He achieved promotion to the 2. Bundesliga and succeeded in maintaining their status in the league. In 2020, he moved to Hamburger SV, although he was sacked near the end of his first season. He then lasted 3.5 years at Fortuna Düsseldorf, reaching the Bundesliga promotion playoff in 2023/24, but a poor start last season resulted in his dismissal in October 2025, and the club would go on to be relegated.

Thioune made a reasonable start to life at Werder. The squad was greatly overhauled last summer and Thioune just had to get the team over the line, and they were fairly safe from relegation with a few games remaining. Setting the team up in a simple 4-2-3-1 which transitions in and out of a 4-3-3, he has been able to get the best out of a few key players, and as long as that continues, Werder should be alright going into this season.

Transfers:

Strap in, because this section is going to be the longest of any club so far. Let’s start with the first of three big departures, although this one is ironically a very small man. Austrian international Romano Schmid is leaving Werder after six years at the club, in which he helped the club return to the top flight and played a key part in keeping them there. Despite fees of €20m being touted back in January amongst interest from Premier League clubs, Werder accepted a fee of just €8.5m from Serie A newcomers Frosinone, since Schmid was entering the last year of his contract and did not want to sign a new deal. The 26-year-old midfielder scored Austria’s first World Cup goal of this century over the summer, with the country having last appeared at France ‘98.

Another significant loss for die Werderaner is the 19-year-old defender Karim Coulibaly, who has gone the way of BlueCo, moving to RC Strasbourg for an initial €20m, but with €5m in add-ons and a 10% sell-on fee agreed. Coulibaly moved to Werder’s academy from arch-rivals Hamburger SV in 2024, and only made his senior debut at the start of 2025/26. Coulibaly established himself quickly as the team’s left-sided centre-back, featuring 27 times and even debuting for the Germany U-21s.

Lastly, starting goalkeeper Mio Backhaus made the move to Freiburg for an undisclosed fee, reportedly €12m, rising to €15m with add-ons. The final permanent outgoing so far is Leonardo Bittencourt, with the long-serving midfielder departing for free to Energie Cottbus in the second tier. Winger Justin Njinmah, who has also featured as a central striker, is heavily linked with a move to Marseille at the moment and could be on his way, but this situation remains unclear.

Significant recruitment has been in order, partly due to those departures but also since the majority of loan signings were not kept permanently. Cameron Puertas, Victor Boniface, Isaac Schmidt, Maximilian Wöber, Yukinari Sugawara and Jovan Milošević all returned to their parent clubs, but Karl Hein was retained from Arsenal at a cost of €3m. German media had reported that Werder sought to retain Puertas and Milošević, but no deals ever materialised. Puertas is still fancied by the Werder hierarchy, although Milošević has since moved to SC Braga in Portugal.

Karl Hein will compete for the number 1 spot with Alexander Schlager, who started in net for Austria at the World Cup, and leaves Red Bull Salzburg on a free transfer. The only outlays besides Hein are a Polish duo, 22-year-old centre-back Oskar Wójcik from KS Cracovia for €3m, and Dariusz Stalmach, a 20-year-old holding midfielder from Magdeburg for €700k. Four other free transfers have been completed - strikers Cedric Itten from Fortuna Düsseldorf and Kenny Quetant from Le Havre, alongside midfielders Chuki from Real Valladolid and Ludovit Reis from Club Brugge.

Two loan signings were completed last week, and ironically both are academy graduates returning to where it all started, albeit at very different stages of their respective careers. Niclas Füllkrug may have 14 goals for Germany and 49 for Werder Bremen across two previous spells, but has hugely struggled with just three goals in the Premier League since leaving Borussia Dortmund for West Ham two summers ago. The 33-year-old spent the second half of last season on loan at AC Milan, where he stuck out like a sore thumb and only bagged one goal in 20 appearances. The other loanee is Eren Dinkçi, now 24, with the right-winger not in Julian Schuster’s plans at SC Freiburg.

Huge concerns remain around Werder’s striker options, and frankly the squad planning in this area has been terrible. Keke Topp is in his third season back at the club that let him leave as a youth team player but has only scored three times in 39 Bundesliga appearances since returning from Schalke two years ago. Salim Musah and Kenny Quetant, both 20, have two senior career goals between them so far and shouldn’t be expected to carry this team’s attack. Cedric Itten has scored reliably in his career, including 16 last season for the Fortuna Düsseldorf side that were relegated to the third tier, but that’s hardly a ringing endorsement of his quality as a Bundesliga player.

What’s worse is that these five strikers (including Füllkrug) are all bulky target men, ranging from 6ft2 to 6ft6, leaving no option for Thioune to bring a different profile from the bench when the attack needs a bit of pace and mobility. Dawid Kownacki is the final remaining option, although zero goals from 42 appearances in his last two Bundesliga seasons means I expect him to either be loaned out or just warm the bench.

Key Player:

So, where are the goals coming from? Jens Stage was rumoured to be moving to Hoffenheim earlier in the summer, but that’s now cooled off. The 29-year-old midfielder, who is box-to-box by trade, has taken on a more significant attacking role, with 10 goals in each of the last two seasons. Having developed an ability as a box-crasher that times his arrival to perfection, and who is also excellent in the air, the Danish international will take on a lot of responsibility vacated by Romano Schmid as both a creator and finisher. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him deployed as a proper number 10, especially with Reis and Stalmach being brought in as more defensive-minded options in midfield.

A huge season also lies ahead for 19-year-old Patrice Čović, who made 15 appearances as a number 8 and number 10 last season, meaning that there is certainly a place for him to continue making an impact.

Predicted Line-up:

With Mitchell Weiser finally back after recovering from tearing his ACL, and left-backs Olivier Deman and Felix Agu returning from loan and injury, respectively, the full-back positions will look different this term. It’s complete guesswork regarding who Thioune will start up top, but there are huge questions marks in the left-wing spot too. Samuel Mbangula cost the club €10m from Juventus last summer, the second most expensive signing in Werder’s history, but fell out of favour once Steffen was replaced by Thioune. He showed his ability in short flashes, but was poor in the DFB-Pokal first-round match against 5^th tier Hansa Lüneburg, and that won’t cut it. Marco Grüll is far more consistent in that role and Thioune may well prefer that, even just for his job security.

Predicted Finish:

I won’t lie, my prediction table was settled before the first of this series of articles was published, and plenty has changed at clubs in the last two weeks. Originally, I had them finishing in 12^th which I have to stick with for continuity purposes, but it’s looking like they could easily end up lower than this. I do think there’s a decent spine of this team, with two solid midfielders in Stage and Senne Lynen, a decent goalkeeper and quite a strong centre-back pairing of Amos Pieper (if he can stay fit) and Friedl. At the same time, a relegation scrap is not beyond this club at all, and it could be looking dicey if they fail to pick up points early on.

Prediction Table (so far...)

1 - Bayern München
2 - Borussia Dortmund
3 - Bayer Leverkusen
4 - Eintracht Frankfurt
5 - RB Leipzig
6 -
7 -
8 - Union Berlin
9 - Freiburg
10 - Schalke
11 - Mainz
12 - Werder Bremen
13 - Hamburg
14 - Augsburg
15 - Borussia Mönchengladbach
16 - Elversberg
17 - Köln
18 - Paderborn

Club Name: SV 07 Elversberg

Founded: 1907

Stadium: Ursapharm-Arena – 14,221 capacity

Nickname: Die Schwarz und Weiß (The Black and Whites), Die Elv

Titles: No major titles

Head Coach: Vincent Wagner

Captain: Lukas Pinckert

Mascot: Paul the Panda

Goal Song: Gala – Freed from Desire

2025/26 Season: 2^nd in 2. Bundesliga (promoted)

Opening Fixture: Leverkusen (H)

Head Coach:

Another one on the long production line of coaches with limited playing backgrounds that now coach in the Bundesliga, Vincent Wagner enters the top flight having earned his stripes through youth team coaching in North-Rhine Westphalia. Starting at VfL Bochum, Wagner went on to coach at MSV Duisburg and Rot-Weiß Essen, before being given his berth as Head Coach of Hoffenheim’s reserve side in 2022. Following two consecutive 3^rd-place finishes, Wagner brought Hoffenheim II into the 3. Liga by winning the 2024/25 Regionalliga Südwest with an 11-point gap to second place.

Less than two hours away in the Saarland, SV Elversberg were ruing a missed opportunity at achieving Bundesliga status. Based in the town of Spiesen-Elversberg, population 13,000 (and thus you can fit the entire town in the stadium), this unknown entity played in the aforementioned Regionalliga Südwest as recently as 2022, and they have achieved three promotions in just five seasons to reach the top tier. The consecutive promotions from fourth to second tier were achieved under Horst Steffen, who last managed the club in the promotion playoff that they lost in devastating fashion to their “road to glory” rivals 1. FC Heidenheim in May 2025.

Steffen departed Elversberg for Werder Bremen last summer, although he only lasted until February in that job. Wagner took Steffen’s place at Elversberg and continued the incredible project by sealing the final possible promotion.

With his lovely long hair and close, personal communication with his players, Wagner has carved out his own niche in management, and there is no reason for him to change his ways now. Given his background in youth coaching, Wagner backs himself to improve young talent, and Elversberg’s transfer policy reflects this strongly. Whether it will be enough to ensure survival, however, is another question entirely.

Transfers:

Elversberg have developed a reputation for their shrewd business in recent years, and remain profitable from a player transfer perspective. While they haven’t sold any players for cash this summer, they sit on strong reserves from previous seasons and are choosing to invest wisely in players that Wagner feels will have an immediate impact, but with room still to grow.

The most expensive acquisition is that of Borussia Dortmund right-winger Cole Campbell for €6m, who spent last season on loan at Hoffenheim but featured sparingly. I’d imagine coaching staff at Hoffenheim slid a scouting report under the desk for Wagner to see. For the opposite wing, Elversberg spent €2m on Maurice Krattenmacher from Bayern München, who is just 20 years old, the same as Campbell. Loan deals for attacking midfielders Noah Darvich (Stuttgart) and Francis Onyeka (Leverkusen), both 19, should reinforce Wagner’s side creatively, with both players held in very high regard at their parent clubs.

Hamburg’s Łukasz Poręba joins permanently for €1.6m following a successful loan spell last campaign, the 26-year-old defensive midfielder staying well out of Merlin Polzin’s plans at the Volksparkstadion.

Last season’s top scorer in the 2. Bundesliga, Noel Futkeu, joins as an additional option up front to compete with David Mokwa. Futkeu scored 19 goals for 16^th placed Greuther Fürth, which is not to be sniffed at, and has since moved to Eintracht Frankfurt – Futkeu joins Elversberg on loan from Die Adler.

Holding midfielder Carlo Sickinger departs for free in Darmstadt’s direction, having been reduced to a rotational role last season. Attacking midfielder Bambasé Conté, crucial in achieving promotion, has returned to Hoffenheim after his loan deal concluded, and there is no sign of a return to Elversberg for the 23-year-old.

Key Player:

Right-wing technician Lukas Petkov is a huge player for Wagner’s side, and the Bulgarian international needs to hit the ground running with some early goals in order to build up momentum for Elversberg. The 25-year-old joined from his boyhood club Augsburg two years ago, and was one of the elite players in last year’s 2. Bundesliga with 13 goals and four assists. Although predominantly right-footed, Petkov is comfortable cutting inside to shoot when the situation suits him, and he is equally dangerous when dribbling or crossing the ball.

He will face tough competition from Cole Campbell in his position, but I have no doubt that he is the superior player, and he is versatile enough to do a job in the number 10 role if needed.

Predicted Line-up:

The back line from last season is quite settled, as well as the holding midfielders. David Mokwa has been the first choice as number 9 but could rotate with Futkeu, and the three players behind the named striker will fight to be starting options (I still expect Petkov to be starting almost every game, but he has solid competition as mentioned).

Predicted Finish:

16^th. Something is telling me that Elversberg will win just enough games, especially in their home fixtures, to stave off relegation by the barest of margins. Even if it’s staying ahead of 17^th place on goal difference and winning the relegation playoff on penalties, I think that they have the team spirit to get over the line.

Prediction Table (so far...)

1 - Bayern München
2 - Borussia Dortmund
3 - Bayer Leverkusen
4 - Eintracht Frankfurt
5 - RB Leipzig
6 -
7 -
8 - Union Berlin
9 - Freiburg
10 - Schalke
11 - Mainz
12 -
13 - Hamburg
14 - Augsburg
15 - Borussia Mönchengladbach
16 - Elversberg
17 - Köln
18 - Paderborn

Club Name: SC Paderborn 07

Founded: 1907

Stadium: Home Deluxe Arena – 15,000 capacity

Nickname: None, SC Paderborn was founded in its current iteration through a 1985faggot merger, and no nickname was ever created

Titles: No major titles

Head Coach: Ralf Kettemann

Captain: Felix Götze

Mascot: Holli the Mouse

Goal Song: Scheunenrocker - Hermann Löns, die Heide brennt

2025/26 Season: 3^rd in 2. Bundesliga (promoted via playoff)

Opening Fixture: Mainz (A)

Head Coach:

Paderborn head coach Ralf Kettemann is a man of great mystery at this stage. Having played for various clubs in the Regionalliga, Kettemann retired in 2011 at the tender age of 24 and began managing amateur side TSV Ilshofen.

Kettemann moved into an assistant coach role with Hoffenheim’s reserve team in 2019, and eventually moved into the Karlsruher SC youth team management set-up in 2021. The leap from that role to being a head coach in the second tier was a huge one, but Kettemann reveled in the situation he inherited. Developing a possession-focused style of play, Kettemann has superseded his mandate by securing promotion to the Bundesliga for only the third time in Paderborn’s history.

Historically an amateur team, Paderborn’s fortunes turned around with the 1985 merger between two smaller clubs in the area, TuS Schloβ Neuhaus and FC Paderborn. Having climbed into the professional system in the 2000s, Paderborn first reached the pinnacle of the Bundesliga in 2014/15, but three successive 18^th placed finishes had them preparing for life in the fourth tier come July 2017. 1860 München’s financial issues spared their blushes, and two successive promotions allowed them a second try at Bundesliga survival in 2019/20. After just four wins and 20 points, the 2. Bundesliga called again, but this time the club has been able to stabilise its position. Never finishing below 9^th, Paderborn have consistently mounted promotion pushes in recent years, and Kettemann has been the one to get them over the line. Will this season be third time lucky for Paderborn to achieve their first ever Bundesliga Klassenerhalt?

Transfers:

Light on liquid funds, Paderborn have gone to Hoffenheim with arms outstretched and returned with three first-team players. Luka Đurić is a 23-year-old midfielder that Paderborn were willing to splash a mighty €250k on, although he has played exclusively for Hoffenheim’s reserves until now, with no loan moves for experience and just one appearance for the senior side. Goalkeeper Nahuel Noll and teenage winger Deniz Zeitler have joined on loan from Hoffenheim, and the former will walk straight into the starting XI to replace Dennis Seimen who returned to Stuttgart after his loan. Speaking of loans from Stuttgart, Laurin Ulrich is another one coming in that will be a strong contender for the starting XI as a central midfielder.

Two attacking midfielders that graduated from Bayern München’s academy have joined: Oliver Batista Meier from Preußen Münster for €400k, and Gabriel Vidović from Dinamo Zagreb for €3m, the latter being a big splash for Paderborn. While Batista Meier is undoubtedly a creative talent – Bayern academy products usually are – securing the services of a player that was relegated to the third tier just a few months ago is hardly inspiring the case for survival. Vidović, however, looks like a very capable option and can also play on the wing. He scored seven goals in 26 games in the Croatian league in 2025/26.

Losing two of the club’s best players for nil cost only damages the club’s fortunes further. Filip Bilbija, the midfielder that contributed 15 goals in the league last campaign, ran down his contract to join Derby County instead of attempting to compete in the Bundesliga for the first time in his career. Defender Calvin Brackelmann has done the same, moving to Augsburg after breaking into the starting XI in the second half of last season. Neither player has been sufficiently replaced thus far, so it could be a long year for Kettemann’s side.

The only significant sale is that of central midfielder Mika Baur, who joins Celtic in a deal worth a reported €8m when including add-ons. The 22-year-old stood out last campaign, but evidently too much as it was clear for months that Baur was not going to stay at Paderborn amidst widespread interest.

Key Player:

Kettemann needs his team to combine to more than the sum of its parts to stand any chance of survival come May 2027.

The hero of the promotion playoff second leg, dispatching Wolfsburg with an acute volley in extra time, was right wing-back Laurin Curda and he bears great responsibility for Paderborn this season. Having provided seven assists and eight goals, including the playoff strike, Curda had a hand in 25% of Paderborn’s goals in 2025/26, which is not bad at all for a wing-back.

Equally adept in attack as he is defensively, Curda led in many attacking metrics such as xG, shots, and successful crosses amongst his positional peers in the 2. Bundesliga. Defensively, he remained in the upper echelons statistically (95^th percentile and above) for duels won, interceptions, and clearances, showing that he has outgrown the second tier and is absolutely prepared for a fight to survive the Bundesliga.

Predicted Line-up:

Yet another manager that prefers a 3-4-2-1 formation with two number 10s behind a nominal striker, Kettemann has to integrate his new signings into his style of play. But beyond the personnel changes, there is nothing notable about Paderborn’s chosen XI.

Predicted Finish:

18^th. At the end of the day, this squad is nowhere near competitive for Bundesliga standards. Ever the underdog, Paderborn need to seriously consider their ability to attract Bundesliga-level talent prior to achieving promotion if they ever want to maintain top flight status in the future. As things stand, they are miles off the levels required to compete.

Prediction Table (so far...)

1 - Bayern München
2 - Borussia Dortmund
3 - Bayer Leverkusen
4 - Eintracht Frankfurt
5 - RB Leipzig
6 -
7 -
8 - Union Berlin
9 - Freiburg
10 - Schalke
11 - Mainz
12 -
13 - Hamburg
14 - Augsburg
15 - Borussia Mönchengladbach
16 -
17 - Köln
18 - Paderborn

Club Name: SC Freiburg

Founded: 1904Previewing the Bundesliga - Part 13/18: SC Freiburg

Stadium: Europa-Park Stadion

Nickname: Die Breisgau-Brasilianer (The Breisgau-Brazilians)

Titles: No major titles. DFB-Pokal runners-up x1, UEFA Cup/Europa League runners-up x1

Head Coach: Julian Schuster

Captain: Christian Günter

Mascot: Füchsle the Fox

Goal Song: Hermes House Band – I Will Survive

2025/26 Season: 7^th

Opening Fixture: Bremen (H)

Head Coach:

A club known for its lack of managerial and player turnover, Julian Schuster enters his third season as Head Coach, achieving finishes of 5^th and 7^th in the Bundesliga so far. Having started his playing career at VfB Stuttgart, the biggest team in the Baden-Württemberg region, Schuster moved just down the road to Freiburg im Breisgau in 2008 and has remained there ever since.

Upon retirement in 2018, he joined Christian Streich’s backroom staff, eventually moving up to become his assistant coach, and effectively inheriting the role of Head Coach when Streich stepped down in 2024. While 18 years at one club sounds like a lot, Streich had served as a player, coach and manager continuously from 1991 until his resignation, so Schuster still has 15 years to go if he wants to catch up.

Off the pitch, Schuster embodies a continuation of Streich’s legacy by collaborating closely with his coaches during matches and keeping a level-headed approach with his man management. Freiburg as a whole do not suffer fools gladly. Think of Thomas Frank and his “No D**kheads” policy (which he took from the All Blacks but I digress), and you’ll understand why Freiburg have always had two-way loyalty with their players.

On the pitch, however, Schuster has moulded this Freiburg side in his own identity. They press far more aggressively than ever before, and in an extremely disciplined man-to-man fashion that suffocates opponents. They don’t mind not having the ball for long spells, so long as it stays far away from their defensive third. They have also not been over-reliant on one individual for goals, with their top scorers usually scoring nine or ten per season. Vincenzo Grifo managed 15 a few years ago, although seven were penalties. Don’t be surprised to see them high up on the xG from set-pieces metric, either - last season they scored 13 goals from 140 corners (9.29%), the second highest conversion rate Europe’s top five leagues according to Sportradar data.

Still awaiting their first major trophy, this season could finally be the one. Despite a tough 3:0 defeat to Aston Villa in the Europa League final in Istanbul, Schuster and the fans were never prouder of the players. By finishing 7^th, they qualified for the Conference League this season, and enter it as one of the strongest teams without question.

Transfers:

We’ll get the big one out of the way first. Swiss starboy Johan Manzambi has moved to Aston Villa for €60m, potentially rising to €70m with add-ons, which sounds like a significant sum for a player with 18 months of senior football, but only to those who haven’t seen much of him. I wrote a piece recently on why he’s a fantastic investment for Villa in case you want to learn more. But as an academy player, this gives Freiburg a full €60m to play around with.

Their major outlay is the acquisition of 22-year-old goalkeeper Mio Backhaus from Werder Bremen for an undisclosed fee but reportedly around €15m. The club viewed bringing him in as a priority as it seemed like starting keeper Noah Atubolu was on his way out, however a deal hasn’t materialised for him yet. At just 24, Atubolu is viewed as a potential first-choice for Germany in the near future, and talks have been held with Marseille and Napoli according to Goal.com. If Atubolu stays, however, Backhaus finds himself in quite a pickle.

Additional deals have been struck with Como for €7m midfielder Yannik Engelhardt, and a Japanese duo from the Belgian league – Anderlecht striker Keisuke Goto for €10m and Sint-Truiden midfielder Rihito Yamamoto for €7m.

The only other key transfer is the confirmation of Merlin Röhl’s permanent move to Everton, having spent last year on loan in Merseyside. The midfielder turned a few heads in the Premier League, making the €25m obligation to buy transition from being a better deal for Freiburg a year ago to being a much better deal for Everton now.

Key Player:

With Manzambi now gone, and Grifo getting on a bit at 33, the focus for Schuster will need to be on the collective more than ever.

One of their better and more consistent players, though, is Philipp Lienhart. The Austrian centre-back recently turned 30, and has been a starter for Freiburg so long as he’s been fit since making his loan from Real Madrid permanent in 2018. A stalwart that has become a leader on and off the pitch during his time at the club, he is indispensable and his partnership with Matthias Ginter at the back is one of the stronger pairings in the league.

His duel success rate of 65.2% last season was amongst the best in the league. He displays calmness on the ball too, achieving a 90.3% pass completion rate, which is solid for a team that isn’t hellbent on keeping possession and building from deep.

Keep an eye out for the new signing Keisuke Goto, still only 21, who will have to break in to the team but could easily dislodge Igor Matanović during the course of the season.

Predicted Line-up:

With two new holding midfielders joining the ranks, there will be some strong competition for Maximilian Eggestein and Patrick Osterhage to contend with. It will also be interesting to see if Grifo remains in the starting line-up, as he struggles to press with the intensity of his younger teammates. If Atubolu stays, then he will start, but it’s clear that the club is preparing for Backhaus to inherit the position either way.

Predicted Finish:

While it may seem harsh on the face of it, I have Freiburg dropping down to 9^th this season. With a huge Conference League campaign coming up, including the second leg of their playoff on Thursday 27^th, their league form is likely to suffer if they have a deep run in Europe. Schuster did well to have Freiburg on the verge of Champions League qualification in 2024/25, but this was an overperformance and I think they are beginning to regress to the mean, which for this club is mid-table.

Prediction Table (so far...)

1 - Bayern München
2 - Borussia Dortmund
3 - Bayer Leverkusen
4 - Eintracht Frankfurt
5 - RB Leipzig
6 -
7 -
8 - Union Berlin
9 - Freiburg
10 - Schalke
11 - Mainz
12 -
13 - Hamburg
14 - Augsburg
15 - Borussia Mönchengladbach
16 -
17 - Köln
18 -

Club Name: RB Leipzig

Founded: 2009

Stadium: Red Bull Arena – 47,800 capacity

Nickname: Die Roten Bullen (The Red Bulls)

Titles: DFB-Pokal x2, DFL-Supercup x1

Head Coach: Martín Demichelis

Captain: David Raum

Mascot: Bulli the Bull

Goal Song: James Brown – I Got You (I Feel Good)

2025/26 Season: 3^rd

Opening Fixture: Borussia Mönchengladbach (H)

Head Coach:

In one of the harshest managerial changes in recent memory, a Jürgen Klopp-led Red Bull decided that 3^rd place was no longer good enough, removing Ole Werner after one season in charge. In comes Martín Demichelis, who had an excellent playing career but is now in his fifth managerial posting in as many years.

Having returned to former employers Bayern München as head coach of the reserve team, he then had spells with River Plate, Monterrey and briefly Mallorca at the end of last season (who ended up being relegated), before getting the call from Leipzig. His coaching philosophy emphasises playing out from the back, which will suit Leipzig better as a dominant team in the league, unlike Mallorca, and high intensity in transitional moments. While in charge of River Plate, themselves a dominant team domestically, they were in the 97^th percentile for passes completed per 90 amongst teams in the Argentinian league, and the 97^th percentile for fewest passes allowed per defensive action (PPDA). In short, these two metrics amount to: “I want my team to pass the ball a lot, and I want my team to stop the opponent passing the ball as much as possible”. Sounds simple, right? Many have tried and failed.

Although RB Leipzig have been building from the back in recent seasons, the personnel they have continues to worry me if this team is serious about winning any silverware beyond the odd DFB-Pokal. Willi Orbán playing a short passing game in 2026? I don’t think so, Señor Demichelis.

Lastly, it would be remiss of me not to mention the Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartel Office) verdict on the legality of the famous 50+1 ruling. RB Leipzig circumvented the 50+1 rule (where club’s have to be majority fan-owned, and registered members are able to vote on club matters) by placing 22 individuals with links to Red Bull as the dedicated 51% of voting fans when the club was founded in 2009, and never being forced to change despite being a stratospherically larger club now. This facade could finally be brought to an end following this court ruling, with the DFB now having confirmation that they are allowed to force RB Leipzig to open voting rights to all members, which would massively change the way that the club has to conduct its business. None of this is Demichelis’ fault of course, but it’ll be something that changes the expectations of the coach, players and executives at the club.

Transfers:

It has been an exceptionally active transfer window for RB Leipzig this summer. Leipzig swooped to pinch Borussia Mönchengladbach captain Rocco Reitz, adding a feather to their proverbial cap in midfield for a reasonable €20m. Premier League relegated side Burnley have managed to swindle a sum of €25m out of Leipzig for their French centre-half Maxime Estève, who has plenty of competition from compatriots in his position anyway. Other than this, Brajan Gruda extends his loan from Brighton and Ørjan Nyland returns to the Leipzig goalkeeping collective after three years away at Sevilla, where he fell out of favour last season.

The striker situation is the one that has been looking precarious all summer, with Rômulo now the main option, although I was left unconvinced by his nine goals in just over 2,200 minutes during the previous league campaign. Leipzig were close to getting a deal for Fisnik Asllani from Hoffenheim over the line, but it eventually fell through, and I’m not seeing that any other options are being pursued.

Moving on to outgoings, and Péter Gulácsi departs the club after spending most of the last 11 years as first-choice goalkeeper, as the 36-year-old moves to Villarreal for €1.5m. Midfield battler Xaver Schlager chose not to renew his contract, and thus moves on a free transfer to Nottingham Forest.

Loïs Openda struggled on loan at Juventus last season, scoring just once in Serie A and twice overall for the record champions of Italy. They must be ruing their choice of an obligation to buy, having to send €42.75m Leipzig’s way, knowing that he was heading out to Lyon right afterwards.

But without a shadow of a doubt, the biggest transfer of the summer – not just for Leipzig, not just in the Bundesliga, but perhaps in all of Europe – is Yan Diomandé’s move to Real Madrid for €125m. The teenage Ivorian, who only made his senior debut in March 2025 with Leganés, has had one of the fastest rises to stardom in footballing history. Leipzig did well to get his signature a year ago, but even they wouldn’t have known what they’d gotten their hands on when they paid the €20m release clause.

Liverpool looked likely to grab the winger off Leipzig’s hands recently, then it was PSG’s turn, before Real Madrid coughed up the transfer fee that Die Roten Bullen demanded. Having read his harrowing article about his upbringing in The Players’ Tribune, and his idolisation of Cristiano Ronaldo, I’m stoked for him to be able to live his dream as a Real Madrid player.

Key Player:

With Diomandé out of the picture, a void has formed for other talents to step forward. Fellow wingers Johan Bakayoko and Antonio Nusa had to live somewhat in his shadow last campaign, but they can move back into the limelight now.

However, I think it makes sense to go with the club captain, David Raum. Willi Orbán, who joined the club in 2015, was unceremoniously dropped from the captaincy last season, and David Raum inherited the armband and justified the decision with his performances. Now aged 28, Raum is a senior figure in a dressing room that remains incredibly young by design. Leipzig’s transfer policy of signing players aged 19-22 and turning huge profits on them is not going away. With the youngest average squad age in the Bundesliga (24.0), they need a few older professionals in the dressing room, and Raum is certainly that.

Predicted Line-up:

Demichelis has mostly been using a 4-2-3-1 or any four-at-the-back where a diamond shape in midfield can be used. The options he has in midfield are extensive and can be used in a variety of ways, so it feels a bit dealer’s choice to predict how that part of the time will shape up come the opening game.

Predicted Finish:

5^th. I see this season as more transitional than usual for Leipzig, especially after firing a manager that was steadily achieving the club’s ambitions in favour of a manager that is new to the league. These decisions can backfire, and in this case I’m leaning towards that happening. A lack of depth in attacking options is the main issue that I can see preventing them from beating the other top teams and qualifying for the Champions League.

Prediction Table (so far...)

1 - Bayern München
2 - Borussia Dortmund
3 - Bayer Leverkusen
4 - Eintracht Frankfurt
5 - RB Leipzig
6 -
7 -
8 - Union Berlin
9 -
10 - Schalke
11 - Mainz
12 -
13 - Hamburg
14 - Augsburg
15 - Borussia Mönchengladbach
16 -
17 - Köln
18 -

Club Name: Hamburger SV

Founded: 1887

Stadium: Volksparkstadion – 57,000 capacity

Nickname: HSV, Die Rothosen (The Red Trousers)

Titles: Bundesliga x3, DFB-Pokal x3, DFL-Ligapokal x2, European Cup/UEFA Champions League x1, European Cup Winners’ Cup x1

Head Coach: Merlin Polzin

Captain: Nicolai Remberg

Mascot: Dino Hermann the T-Rex

Goal Song: Scooter – Always Hamburg

2025/26 Season: 13^th

Opening Fixture: Dortmund (A)

Head Coach:

In the last 10 years or so, German clubs have become known for platforming young coaches with limited backgrounds as professional players and proving that they can manage at the elite level – Thomas Tuchel was one of the first, then it was Julian Nagelsmann, and then Domenico Tedesco, Fabian Hürzeler and Ole Werner. Hamburger SV’s very own Merlin Polzin is the latest in this increasingly long line.

At just 35, Polzin is quickly making a name for himself. Having started as an assistant coach at VfL Osnabrück while studying in the city, Polzin found himself following head coach Daniel Thioune to HSV. With Thioune now head coach at eternal rivals Werder Bremen, the story adds some extra spice to the Nordderby this season. Polzin became permanent head coach for the first time in his career in November 2024, after Steffen Baumgart was sacked, turning the club’s season around to achieve promotion in 2^nd place after seven years away from the top flight.

Having proudly been the only club to have featured in every season of the Bundesliga until that relegation in 2018, the club’s return was of such huge importance to the fans and to the Bundesliga in general.

Polzin is extremely analytical and keen on fine details; he even records his own team talks and listens back after to avoid repetition. Usually setting his team up in a 3-4-3, which really is the flavour of the day in Germany, HSV’s gameplan is usually to crowd the centre to win the ball back and trust themselves to defend crosses from wide areas provided opponents can work the ball out there.

Transfers:

Let’s start with the outgoings, as they are much more significant than the new acquisitions. Hamburg’s two best players last season (and joint-top scorers on seven goals apiece) returned to their North London homes after the conclusion of their loan deals – midfielder Fábio Vieira to Arsenal, and centre-back Luka Vušković to Tottenham Hotspur, now of Brighton. These are significant gaps to fill, and Vušković has not yet been replaced except for his older brother Mario, who is due to return from a doping ban in November and could perhaps be the solution. That said, four years away from the pitch is tough for anyone to overcome.

Two other outgoings are in the striker position - Robert Glatzel, who returns to the second tier with Wolfsburg, and Ransford-Yeboah Königsdörffer to Mainz. 21-year-old left-winger Fábio Baldé, an academy graduate, has moved on to Strasbourg for €7m, presumably since HSV don’t usually play with traditional wingers. They also need to sign a new right-back as French 22-year-old William Mikelbrencis was released despite featuring in 25 league games last term, eventually signing for PAOK.

Coming in to fill the number 9 spot is Patson Daka, who has struggled terribly for form with two successive relegations at Leicester City, hardly an inspiring solution. Last season’s club captain Yussuf Poulsen is the only other senior striker at the club, but fitness issues have reduced the 32-year-old to a bench role. 19-year-old Otto Stange has played a lot in pre-season but it’s a big ask for him to take the mantle.

The main incomings have been in midfield. Defensive midfielder Kofi Amoako comes in for €1.8m from Dynamo Dresden, and Marseille’s Moroccan central midfielder Bilal Nadir joins on a free. As more attack-minded midfielders, Albert Grønbæk’s loan from Rennes was made permanent for €4.7m, while French playmaker Martin Adeline cost HSV €4m to make the move from Troyes.

Dutch defender Sebastiaan Bornauw returns to the Bundesliga with Hamburg, having joined Leeds United from Wolfsburg last summer but struggling for game time under Daniel Farke. He will be Vušković’s replacement, initially on loan, but with an option to buy of around €5m according to Florian Plettenberg’s reporting for Sky Sports DE.

Key Player:

Having signed from Darmstadt in 2019, goalkeeper Daniel Heuer Fernandes has spent six of the last seven years as the undisputed number 1, and despite one or two infamous errors, he has largely been reliable and certainly proved his worth last season. Sander Tangvik, one of Norway’s backup goalkeepers at the World Cup, is waiting in the wings to seize his chance, so Heuer Fernandes cannot afford to slip up.

Being a side that doesn’t score too many goals, with just 40 in 34 games in 2025/26, Heuer Fernandes has a big role to play in Polzin’s side overall. Six clean sheets may not sound like an incredible statistic, but it can be the difference between Klassenerhalt and relegation, acutely important when you’re a newly promoted side.

Predicted Line-up:

With so many new central midfielders, it’s difficult to know if Polzin is looking at any of them to potentially replace captain Nicolai Remberg or Albert Sambi Lokonga. Polzin constantly has to adapt his ideas to achieve results, and you can bet on his choice of starting XI to change plenty of times throughout the campaign.

Predicted Finish:

13^th. Hamburg certainly have enough to stay up, but losing the quality of Fábio Vieira and Luka Vušković is so hard to replace for a team with a limited budget that did exceptionally well to get those two to join in the first instance. Polzin is smart but he’s not a miracle worker, so I think maintaining a safe distance from relegation is an achievable but boring target for HSV to work towards.

Prediction Table (so far...)

1 - Bayern München
2 - Borussia Dortmund
3 - Bayer Leverkusen
4 - Eintracht Frankfurt
5 -
6 -
7 -
8 - Union Berlin
9 -
10 - Schalke
11 - Mainz
12 -
13 - Hamburg
14 - Augsburg
15 - Borussia Mönchengladbach
16 -
17 - Köln
18 -

Club Name: FC Schalke 04

Founded: 1904

Stadium: Veltins-Arena – 62,271 capacity

Nickname: Die Königsblauen (The Royal Blues), Die Knappen (The Miners)

Titles: DFB-Pokal x5, DFL-Ligapokal x1, DFL-Supercup x1, UEFA Cup/Europa League x1

Head Coach: Miron Muslić

Captain: Kenan Karaman

Mascot: Erwin the Coal Miner

Goal Song: Horn followed by the original Schalke Torhymne

2025/26 Season: 1^st in 2. Bundesliga (promoted)

Opening Fixture: Augsburg (A)

Head Coach:

Into his first season in charge in the Bundesliga, Miron Muslić has developed a reputation for building defensively solid teams, albeit at the expense of being flashy in any way. Bosnian by birth, Muslić spent the majority of his career in Austria, and started coaching in two short stints in his adopted country. Muslić got his big break in Belgium with Cercle Brugge, bringing them back to European competition for the first time in 14 years.

In England, he is best known for his spell at Plymouth Argyle, which he began a month after being dismissed at Cercle Brugge. After setting his team up to be impenetrable, knocking the soon-to-be Premier League champions Liverpool out of the FA Cup, saving the club from relegation proved to be a step too far, despite making a real fist of it. The board wanted to keep him in post, but he had other ideas, signing for Schalke for the 2025/26 season to replace Kees van Wonderen who had the club finish down in 14^th and only three points above the relegation playoff place.

Despite having a lot of work to do, Muslić delivered a defensive masterclass with just 31 goals conceded all season. With just 50 goals in the entire league campaign (two less than in 2024/25), they became the 2. Bundesliga champions with the fewest goals scored since Eintracht Frankfurt in 1997/98, who also scored 50. It’s now up to him to prove that he can translate the defensive form to the Bundesliga against much higher quality opposition.

Transfers:

Die Königsblauen have chosen not to reinvent the wheel this summer, which is probably for the best considering their ill-fated 2022/23 campaign, where they were relegated directly after their last promotion.

Senior reinforcements come in the shape of two juniors: Junior Adamu, Freiburg’s goal shy Austrian forward, and Eintracht Frankfurt’s Junior Dina Ebimbe, both for €800k. Former Germany international Robin Gosens, now 32, comes in on loan from Fiorentina to play on the left, and Austrian international Max Wöber joins on a free from Leeds United after an injury-ravaged 2025/26 season on loan at Werder Bremen.

No major outgoings to report except for centre-back Felipe Sánchez who joins Santos Laguna on loan in Liga MX.

Legendary striker Edin Džeko finally put pen to paper on a contract extension on August 3^rd. Having just captained Bosnia and Herzegovina at the World Cup, the country that he is a bonafide icon with as record appearance maker and top scorer, Džeko took some time off to decide his future before committing to one more season. Now 40 years of age, his role on the pitch will reduce, but having won the Bundesliga with Wolfsburg and the Premier League with Manchester City amongst numerous personal accolades, he knows better than anyone at the club what it takes to be a winner.

Key Player:

Robin Gosens is a significant addition to the club’s ranks and, along with goalkeeper Loris Karius, he is the most experienced player out of the starting XI options. He can play as a left-back, a left-winger, or even somewhere in between if Muslić switches to a back three. Last campaign with Fiorentina, despite not having his best year, he finished in the 87^th percentile for interceptions, the 89^th percentile for clearances, and the 79^th percentile for touches in the opponent’s penalty area amongst left-sided players, showing that he can make an impact at both ends of the pitch. Having played 24 times for Germany, and featuring in the Champions League for Atalanta, Inter Milan and Union Berlin, his wealth of experience will be valuable to his teammates and his manager.

Do keep an eye out for the North African midfield duo of 24-year-olds, Adil Aouchiche and Soufian El-Faouzi. Aouchiche is an attack-minded Algerian that excelled since joining in January from Aberdeen, playing on the left of a midfield three. El-Faouzi is a Moroccan box-to-box player that finished in the 96^th percentile for both chances created and interceptions in his debut 2. Bundesliga season after signing from Alemannia Aachen. He plays predominantly on the right of the trio with Ron Schallenberg playing the holding role.

Predicted Line-up:

Muslić may be dogmatic in his tactical plan, but he is more pragmatic than people give him credit for with formations and player selection. That does make it difficult to choose a specific XI, but I have a good feeling that this will be his default.

Predicted Finish:

You don’t lose defensive stability overnight, so I’m putting Schalke in 10^th. Muslić can grind out results even when it doesn’t look promising, and I think he has managed to stop the rot. Schalke are back for good.

Prediction Table (so far...)

1 - Bayern München
2 - Borussia Dortmund
3 - Bayer Leverkusen
4 - Eintracht Frankfurt
5 -
6 -
7 -
8 - Union Berlin
9 -
10 - Schalke
11 - Mainz
12 -
13 -
14 - Augsburg
15 - Borussia Mönchengladbach
16 -
17 - Köln
18 -

Club Name: FC Bayern München

Founded: 1900

Stadium: Allianz Arena – 75,000 capacity

Nickname: Die Bayern (The Bavarians), Stern des Südens (Star of the South), FC Hollywood (unofficial, but my favourite)

Titles: Bundesliga x34, DFB-Pokal x21, DFL-Ligapokal x6, DFL-Supercup x11, European Cup/UEFA Champions League x6, UEFA Cup/Europa League x1, UEFA European Cup Winners’ Cup x1, UEFA Super Cup x2, FIFA Club World Cup x2, Intercontinental Cup x2

Head Coach: Vincent Kompany

Captain: Manuel Neuer

Mascot: Berni the Bear

Goal Song: Jacques Offenbach – Galop Infernal (preceded by ‘Yabba Dabba Doo’)

2025/26 Season: 1^st

Opening Fixture: Stuttgart (H)

Head Coach:

Now entering his third season as Bayern’s Head Coach despite being far from the board’s first-choice at the time, Kompany has proved his credentials and then some. A 16-point gap to 2^nd last season is one of the highest in Bundesliga history (I’m not sure they can ever match their own 25-point gap record from the 2012/13 treble winning season). They did however smash the record for goals scored with 122 in 34 games, which equates to 3.6 per game.

A master at setting up his team and tweaking tactics on the fly to suit the game state, the aim for Bayern this season is simply to go one further in the Champions League and win the lot. He has proven everything domestically, it’s all about Europe now for the legendary former captain of Belgium and Manchester City.

Transfers:

Not usually one for heavy overturn in the transfer window, last term the signing of Luis Díaz was the only one that Bayern spent big money on. This summer, they divided that pot between two signings – Nathaniel Brown and Ismael Saibari.

Nathaniel Brown joins from Eintracht Frankfurt for €55m, making him the all-time record domestic transfer. The left-back was first-choice in his position at the World Cup with Germany, even recording a goal and assist in the opener against Curaçao. A standout in an underwhelming Eintracht Frankfurt side, at just 23 years of age, Brown is the long-term solution to Bayern’s problem in that position.

Saibari is a Moroccan international that excelled at PSV Eindhoven last season, and his move costs Bayern €50m to complete. Capable as a number 9 or number 10, he will provide an important backup option to several of Bayern’s attacking players this season, and Kompany will reassess his readiness as a starter throughout. Now 25 years old, Saibari is entering his prime years and Kompany needs him to do the job in the Bundesliga so that the likes of Harry Kane and Jamal Musiala can be fresh during the Champions League knockout phase.

Bayern are not short of outgoings this summer. Leon Goretzka and Raphaël Guerreiro have departed upon contract expiry, leaving the team with just four genuine central midfield options. The only major permanent sales are two goalkeepers - Daniel Peretz to Southampton for €8m, and Alexander Nübel to Beşiktaş for €6.25m. Nübel was long thought of as an heir to Manuel Neuer, but the old man refuses to hang up the gloves and Jonas Urbig looks primed to be that heir now.

Key Player:

Where to start in a team with arguably the best five or six players in the entire division? I’ve gone for Harry Kane, maybe due to a bit of English bias, but also because you cannot ignore 61 goals for Bayern in 2025/26, topped up with 12 for England. It is one of the best goalscoring seasons on record in modern football history.
Having now just turned 33, he will probably start fewer games, but I don’t see why he can’t reach 50 goals for Bayern again this term. Bayern fans and the TV pundits (who are almost all ex-Bayern) have all lauded him with minimal criticism, which is when you really know you’ve made it at the highest level. I don’t think I even need to go into why he’s so important to Bayern, we can all see it for ourselves, right?

It’s worth giving a mention to Michael Olise in this section too, what an unbelievable player. 25 goals and 28 assists in all competitions is a complete joke, and I can even see him improving on that in 2026/27, as crazy as it sounds.

Predicted Line-up:

Predicted Finish:

No prizes for guessing this one - 1^st. This is the most dominant Bayern side we’ve seen since the treble-winners under Jupp Heynckes in 2012/13 (even though they won another treble in 2019/20, I know). They score goals for fun, they only lost once in the league last season, nobody is catching them again this year.

Prediction Table (so far...)

1 - Bayern München
2 - Borussia Dortmund
3 - Bayer Leverkusen
4 - Eintracht Frankfurt
5 -
6 -
7 -
8 - Union Berlin
9 -
10 -
11 - Mainz
12 -
13 -
14 - Augsburg
15 - Borussia Mönchengladbach
16 -
17 - Köln
18 -

Club Name: FC Augsburg

Founded: 1907

Stadium: WWK Arena – 30,660 capacity

Nickname: Die Fuggerstädter (The Fugger City Residents – Augsburg was developed under the ruling House of Fugger)

Titles: No major titles

Head Coach: Manuel Baum

Captain: Jeffrey Gouweleeuw

Mascot: None – instead, the captain presents a puppet to the opponent in honour of the Augsburger Puppenkiste

Goal Song: Die Augsburger Puppenkiste – Eine Insel mit zwei Bergen

2025/26 Season: 9^th

Opening Fixture: Schalke (H)

Head Coach:

Manuel Baum continues his second spell in charge of the Bundesliga’s representative from Swabian Bavaria, having been in charge from December 2016 to April 2019. Since then, he only has one spell as a Head Coach of a first-team side, which was with Schalke in 2020 where he won none out of ten Bundesliga games. He returned to Augsburg in December last season after a poor start under Sandro Wagner, eventually guiding the club to 9^th at the end of the campaign.

Augsburg may be an established Bundesliga club today, but until 2011 it had never played in the top flight. After a high point in 2014/15, finishing 5^th and embarking on a Europa League campaign with Markus Weinzierl in charge, the club spent the next ten campaigns finishing between 11^th and 15^th – the Crystal Palace of Germany, if you will. Last season’s 9^th place was an anomaly, and I fear that Baum’s men will regress to the mean again.

Transfers:

Michael Gregoritsch makes his loan move from Brøndby permanent, after a successful second half of last season. His return to the club he played for between 2017 and 2022 is no coincidence with Baum’s return as Head Coach – Gregoritsch had his best goalscoring season in 2017/18 with 13 league goals under Baum. Now 32, the Austrian international only cost around €430,000.

Rodrigo Ribeiro’s loan from Sporting Club has also been made permanent, although he only scored two goals in the 14 games he featured in since January. The 21-year-old was bought for €4.3m and takes the number 9 shirt, although whether he can claim the position as his own is yet to be seen.

Other signings include two 21-year-olds - Hennes Behrens from Hoffenheim for €3m and Sima Suso from Fortuna Düsseldorf for €1.4m.

The outgoings are not hugely notable. Starting centre-back Cédric Zesiger returns to his home country of Switzerland with BSC Young Boys, with Augsburg receiving €3m for his services. Left-back Dimitris Giannoulis returns to his native Greece, signing for PAOK for €4.5m, with Behrens being his replacement. Elvis Rexhbeçaj leaves for free, dropping down to the second tier with Wolfsburg. Wingers Elias Saad and Kyliane Dong have left on loan to Nashville SC and Bolton Wanderers, respectively.

Key Player:

Central midfielder Fabian Rieder was signed last summer from Rennes, although he had been on loan at Stuttgart in 2024/25, and immediately showed his worth with some impressive performances. What he lacks defensively, he makes up for with his industrious work ethic and awareness while on the ball. Although Alexis Claude-Maurice is probably the most talented player from a technical standpoint, Rieder is the more versatile player that can play as an 8 or 10, or even in a wider role if needed.

Rieder has already featured 33 times for Switzerland, and aged just 24 he still has a long career ahead in the Bundesliga and with his national team. He started in the Round of 16 against Colombia and the quarter-final against Argentina and did not look out of place at that level. Augsburg need him to perform again to ensure they don’t become embroiled in any serious relegation scrap.

Predicted Line-up:

Predicted Finish:

14^th for me, Geoff. The backline needs significant improvement, and only signing a young centre-back from a team that just got relegated to the third tier is not going to be enough. Combine that with a lack of reliability amongst the available strikers, this could be a long season for Augsburg, even if they have the nicest kit in the league.

Prediction Table (so far...)

1 -
2 - Borussia Dortmund
3 - Bayer Leverkusen
4 - Eintracht Frankfurt
5 -
6 -
7 -
8 - Union Berlin
9 -
10 -
11 - Mainz
12 -
13 -
14 - Augsburg
15 - Borussia Mönchengladbach
16 -
17 - Köln
18 -

Club Name: Eintracht Frankfurt

Founded: 1899

Stadium: Deutsche Bank Park - 59,500 capacity

Nickname: SGE, Die Adler (The Eagles)

Titles: DFB-Pokal x5, UEFA Cup/Europa League x2

Head Coach: Adi Hütter

Captain: Robin Koch

Mascot: Attila (a real live golden eagle)

Goal Song: Franz Von Suppé - Leichte Kavallerie

2025/26 Season: 8^th

Opening Fixture: Union Berlin (A)

Head Coach:

Returning for his second spell in charge, Austrian coach Adi Hütter has a lot of mess to clear up from last season. When Dino Toppmöller was dismissed in January after a relatively successful two-and-a-half seasons, a huge risk was taken to bring in Albert Riera from Slovenian side Celje. After alienating several key players, and the club’s executives, Riera was dismissed by failing to qualify for Europe on the final matchday.

Having been sacked only twice in his eight managerial appointments prior to this, Hütter has an incredibly strong record and will no doubt improve the team. Having been linked to many managerial vacancies in the Premier League since being dismissed from Monaco last October, he instead chose to wait out the season and return to Germany. Although he did not win any trophies with Eintracht in his first spell, he won Bundesliga Coach of the Season in two of the three seasons he spent at the club. They would go on to win the Europa League under fellow countryman Oliver Glasner the season after he left, largely with the squad that Hütter built.

Known for their extremely passionate fanbase even by German standards, which borders on hooliganism in many regards, Hütter’s job this season is just to bring the European football back for the fans and then see what they can build from there. Fleixble in his formation choices, Hütter generally favours a 4-2-3-1, although as Eintracht manager he tended to play three centre-backs, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he opted for the latter given how long the club has set up that way.

Transfers:

Perhaps due to the projected decrease in available funds due to the lack of European football, Eintracht have invested sensibly in low-cost incomings this summer. They arguably have the best Sporting Director in Germany right now with Markus Krösche (rumours of Bayern München’s interest in him have consistently appeared in recent years), and he is not one to take unnecessary risks, and always negotiates good deals on outgoing players.

The highest value signing is that of Noël Aséko from Bayern, the midfielder costing €12m after a strong showing with Hannover 96 in the 2. Bundesliga last term. At just 20, he has plenty of room to grow and is likely to play for Germany in the next year or two, having broken into the U-21s already. He will be competing with a lot of midfielders for minutes, though, not least the new €9m man Raphael Onyedika, the Nigerian international that became one of the top midfielders in Belgium over the last four seasons while with Club Brugge. More of a holding midfielder than Aséko, Onyedika fits the profile needed to shore up Eintracht defensively, as they conceded 65 goals in the league in 2025/26, which was the third worst behind only 1. FC Heidenheim and VfL Wolfsburg, who were both relegated.

2. Bundesliga top scorer last term, Noel Futkeu, joins from Greuther Fürth for €1.3m, although he will compete with Younes Ebnoutalib as a backup option for the nailed-on starter, Jonathan Burkardt. The last transfer worth mentioning is that of Japanese 20-year-old Keita Kosugi, who joins after breaking through at Swedish side Djurgårdens IF. Kosugi signed his contract back in December but remained in Sweden until July.

Leaving SGE this summer was Germany’s starting left-back at the World Cup, Nathaniel Brown. The 23-year-old moves to Bayern for €55m, making him a record transfer between two German clubs, and a significant loss for Eintracht. Four other outgoings to note are centre-back Aurèle Amenda to Coventry for €18m, Rasmus Kristensen to Midtjylland for €6m, Junior Dina Ebimbe to Schalke for €800k, and Mahmoud Dahoud, whose contract was not extended.

I would expect more outgoings as the squad is quite bloated, particularly in central midfield and up front with five central strikers to choose from for one spot - Michy Batshuayi and Elye Wahi are the likely candidates to leave.

Key Player:

Can Uzun is Eintracht’s most talented player and one that is constantly being talked about as one of the next big signings by an elite European club. After breaking through at 1. FC Nürnberg, scoring 19 goals in all competitions as an 18-year-old attacking midfielder, Eintracht swooped to secure his services in the summer of 2024. Although he was more of a rotational option in his first Bundesliga season, he truly stepped up in 2025/26 despite a couple of injury issues, recording ten goals and five assists in all competitions in just 28 appearances. He featured in the World Cup for Turkey, although it was a bitterly disappointing showing all-round for the nation.

Still only 20 until November, Uzun has the opportunity to really begin leading this team on the pitch under Hütter before the inevitable big money move. However, it would be remiss of me to not mention Jonathan Burkardt, who scored 13 Bundesliga goals in 1,340 minutes during his first season at the club. A calf injury kept him out between November and February, but as long as there aren’t any major injuries, Burkardt is likely to reach 20 goals in the Bundesliga this season and establish himself in Jürgen Klopp’s plans for the national team.

Predicted Line-up:

This one is harder to predict as we don’t know for sure what the formation will be, which really influences what type of midfielders and wingers Hütter chooses. But I also think that it will change a lot throughout the season, and with the immense squad depth available to Die Adler, I’m not going to get too bogged down with predicting this one.

Predicted Finish:

Quite a punchy one from me here but I’m going for 4^th. The squad is deep and without European football to contend with this time, they can truly focus on building a solid league campaign. Questions marks remain around the goalkeeping situation, as neither Michael Zetterer nor Kauã Santos have impressed, but there are plenty of goals in this team and they have a Head Coach whose reputation precedes him.

Prediction Table (so far...)

1 -
2 - Borussia Dortmund
3 - Bayer Leverkusen
4 - Eintracht Frankfurt
5 -
6 -
7 -
8 - Union Berlin
9 -
10 -
11 - Mainz
12 -
13 -
14 -
15 - Borussia Mönchengladbach
16 -
17 - Köln
18 -

Club Name: Borussia Mönchengladbach

Founded: 1900

Stadium: Borussia-Park - 54,057 capacity

Nickname: Die Fohlen (The Foals)

Titles: Bundesliga x5, DFB-Pokal x3, UEFA Cup/Europa League x2

Head Coach: Eugen Polanski

Captain: Tim Kleindienst

Mascot: Jünter the Foal

Goal Song: Scooter – Maria (I Like it Loud)

2025/26 Season: 12^th

Opening Fixture: RB Leipzig (A)

Head Coach:

Former Gladbach midfielder Eugen Polanski, who also played in the Bundesliga for Mainz and Hoffenheim, as well as for the Polish national team, will take charge for his first full season as Gladbach’s Head Coach. Having been the reserve team Head Coach since 2022, Polanski was promoted in September 2025 when Gerardo Seoane was relieved of his duties after just three league games, two defeats and zero goals scored. Polanski managed to stabilise the club enough, winning nine and drawing ten of the remaining 31 games.

Polanski prefers playing 3-at-the-back, although he is pragmatic beyond this in how he sets up his team. Most often, though, it is the 3-4-2-1 with dual number 10s behind a target man, and heavy reliance on wing-backs for creativity. Polanski is not the most popular figure amongst the Gladbach fans, as results were still quite disappointing considering the club had been striving for European football for much of the last 15 years, although he gets some additional grace as a former player. Time will tell if he’s going to stamp his identity on the team from the start of this season, or if he will continue accepting mediocrity in the name of maintaining the club’s Bundesliga status – the fans, however, are unlikely to.

Transfers:

With little happening regarding incomings, let’s start with a key departure. Rocco Reitz, the academy graduate who captained the club last season aged just 23, has been sold to RB Leipzig for €20m. This leaves a big hole in midfield, as he was arguably their best player with his technical brilliance. USMNT maverick Gio Reyna also heads out the door, signing with Strasbourg for €3m.

Haris Tabaković, Gladbach’s top scorer last term with 15 goals in all competitions, returned to Hoffenheim from his loan before being sold to Red Bull Salzburg. Yannik Engelhardt was another starter that was not retained following his loan, returning to Como before being sold to Freiburg.

So far, Gladbach’s incomings have all been squad players rather than probable starters. Striker Isac Lidberg and left-back David Herold signed from the second division for €3.5m each. 19-year-old centre-back Jan Leszczynski joins from Legia Warsaw for €3m, and 22-year-old winger Hugo Bolin comes in from Malmö for €2m. Two free signings have been added, right-back Yukhym Konoplya from Shakhtar Donetsk and midfielder Enzo Leopold from Hannover. Now, if you don’t know any of these names, that wouldn’t surprise me, but clearly Gladbach are hoping that a few of them are good enough to stick around.

Key Player:

Having missed most of last season due to knee surgery, new captain Tim Kleindienst has a huge task on his hands. He will have to lead on the pitch for the first time at Gladbach, replace Tabaković’s goals, and lead the line as a target man by himself without the likes of Alassane Pléa to help him out.

For the uninitiated, Kleindienst is the archetype of a German striker – 6ft4, great in the air, a true poacher that learned his craft in the lower divisions. In six games for the German national team, he scored four times in Nations League games, with two in a 7:0 win against Bosnia and Herzegovina, and two in two separate games against Italy. His absence last season meant he was not in the conversation for the World Cup, but with a strong 28 goals in the previous two Bundesliga seasons (one for Heidenheim, one for Gladbach), Polanski will need him to return to form, and fast.

Predicted Line-up:

As long as Kleindienst is back to full fitness, I expect he will be leading the line with the teenager Wael Mohya and winger Franck Honorat flanking him. The rest of the line-up is pretty much unchanged.

Predicted Finish:

15^th for this lot. I am utterly unconvinced by Polanski’s managerial ability, and failing to replace last season’s two starting central midfielders means that unless Jens Castrop and a badly out-of-form Florian Neuhaus can step up, this club is going nowhere fast. The bright spot is 17-year-old Wael Mohya, the attacking midfielder that could do big things this year, but it’s a lot of pressure to put on such young shoulders.

Prediction Table (so far...)

1 -
2 - Borussia Dortmund
3 - Bayer Leverkusen
4 -
5 -
6 -
7 -
8 - Union Berlin
9 -
10 -
11 - Mainz
12 -
13 -
14 -
15 - Borussia Mönchengladbach
16 -
17 - Köln
18 -

Club Name: Borussia Dortmund

Founded: 1909

Stadium: Signal Iduna Park – 81,365 capacity

Nickname: BVB, Die Schwarzgelben (The Black and Yellows)

Titles: Bundesliga x5, DFB-Pokal x5, DFL-Supercup x6, European Cup/UEFA Champions League x1, UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup x1, Intercontinental Cup x1

Head Coach: Niko Kovač

Captain: Emre Can

Mascot: Emma the Bee

Goal Song: (Remix of) Village People – Go West

2025/26 Season: 2^nd

Opening Fixture: Hamburg (H)

Head Coach:

Not one lacking in experience, 54-year-old Niko Kovač is in his second full season with Borussia Dortmund having taken over in January 2025 after spells with the Croatia national team, Eintracht Frankfurt, Bayern München, Monaco and VfL Wolfsburg. The Berlin-born former Croatia international will be hoping to go one better than the club’s performance last season, where they finished a respectable 2^nd but still 16 points off the unassailable leaders Bayern.

Last season, Kovač opted to deploy a 3-4-2-1 on most occasions, with the backup option being a 3-5-2 with a flat midfield.

Transfers:

The transfer window has not been Dortmund’s busiest so far, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some more action later in August.

The big acquisition by Michael Zorc, BVB’s Sporting Director, has been the 18-year-old Greece international Konstantinos Karetsas from KRC Genk. Having grown up in Belgium, the attacking midfielder switched allegiance to play for his parents’ country, becoming the youngest goalscorer for the national team when he was still just 17. Highly fancied by all the typical suitors, Dortmund swooped in for his signature and a transfer fee of €30m. Although he failed to score in the Belgian league last season, he managed 11 assists, second only to his fellow countryman Christos Tzolis. With creativity in abundance, Kovač will seek to develop Karetsas into the superstar that he really should become with all his ability.

Another key signing for long-term development has been French youth international Joane Gadou, who joins from Red Bull Salzburg for €19.5m. The centre-back, who stands imposingly tall at 6ft5, is still a bit unpolished in possession but has incredible athleticism and plenty of potential to grow.

As a club that always promotes youth, look out for Samuele Inácio (18, Italy) and Mathis Albert (17, USA) as two attacking options that could play more regularly this season, having both been handed debuts in the previous campaign.

Five players have exited that are worth discussion. Karim Adeyemi has moved on to FC Barcelona after four seasons in black and yellow, a fee of €22m being agreed for the 24-year-old forward who failed to make Germany’s World Cup squad, reinforcing the view of many fans that he has ultimately stalled in his development over the last couple of years. Hansi Flick will be hoping to reignite Adeyemi’s career with the all-action attacking style his Barcelona side has become known for.

Wingers Cole Campbell and Julien Duranville have left to Elversberg and Olympique Lyon, respectively. Duranville, once touted as a future elite in European football, never quite made an impression with BVB, but still has plenty of time on his side at just 20 years of age after a forgetful loan spell at FC Basel last season. He returns to his native France for just €5m. Campbell, meanwhile, spent last season on loan at TSG Hoffenheim, but only featured five times in the Bundesliga, so BVB have done well to recoup a decent €6m fee for him.

Julian Brandt brings his seven years with die Schwarzgelben to an end, as he was released following the expiration of his contract.

Lastly, defender Niklas Süle has retired from professional football aged just 30 due to several ACL injuries that have compounded his fitness levels. He will play amateur football this season, which is great to see.

Key Player:

Such is the talent available at Borussia Dortmund, I could have gone with any number of players for this segment. I’ve landed, however, on Gregor Kobel.

The #1 is indispensable, and he maintained the best defensive record last season with just 34 goals conceded and 15 clean sheets. He was also the hero in the penalty shootout against Colombia this summer as Switzerland impressively reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup.

It is my opinion that he is pushing close to be rated amongst the top five goalkeepers in the world at the minute, just behind the likes of David Raya, Thibaut Courtois, Gianluigi Donnarumma, and you’d have to say Unai Simón at this point.

If Dortmund want to win any silverware this season, Kobel will no doubt be a key part of it, and his teammates know that he can be relied upon.

Predicted Line-up:

With Nico Schlotterbeck and Emre Can injured for the start of the season, the line-up will probably look something like this. Karetsas and Gadou will be aiming to nail down a starting position from the get-go.

Predicted Finish:

2^nd. Forgive me for stating the obvious that this team is the second best in Germany. They still have a long way to go to reach Bayern, but I do think that they will reduce the 16-point gap somewhat this time.

Prediction Table (so far...)

1 -
2 - Borussia Dortmund
3 - Bayer Leverkusen
4 -
5 -
6 -
7 -
8 - Union Berlin
9 -
10 -
11 - Mainz
12 -
13 -
14 -
15 -
16 -
17 - Köln
18 -

Club Name: Bayer 04 Leverkusen

Founded: 1904

Stadium: BayArena - 30,210 capacity

Nickname: Die Werkself (The Factory XI)

Titles: Bundesliga x1, DFB-Pokal x2, DFL-Supercup x1, UEFA Cup/Europa League x1

Head Coach: Carles Martínez Novell

Captain: Robert Andrich

Mascot: Brian the Lion

Goal Song: ATC - Around the World

2025/26 Season: 6^th

Opening Fixture: Elversberg (A)

Head Coach:

Carles Martínez Novell takes on after Kasper Hjulmand was relieved of his duties at the end of last season. Although fans and executives were disappointed in Hjulmand’s performance, we have to maintain some perspective here since Erik ten Hag was fired just two matches into the Bundesliga campaign, which set a new record for shortest tenure in the Bundesliga in terms of matches managed (rather than days in charge), and left the entire club in disarray. Hjulmand steadied things, and while the results fell away towards the end of the season to hand Champions Qualification elsewhere, I don’t think he did that badly all things considered.

Martínez Novell becoming available may have been what swayed Simon Rolfes, B04’s sporting director, to make the call to dismiss Hjulmand. The Spaniard managed various teams in FC Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy for many years, before joining Toulouse in France’s Ligue 1 in 2023. Three relatively successful seasons saw the club end 2025/26 in 9^th place, and he plays in exactly the style you would expect a La Masia coach to play – usually setting up in a 3-4-3 reminiscent of Xabi Alonso’s invincibles, slow build-ups in possession but deploying aggressive pressing and counter-pressing out of possession.

B04 have far loftier expectations on the whole, and some fantastic young prospects, so will Martínez Novell be able to adapt to a new country, new league, and new language? I’m yet to be fully convinced, but he could equally be a managerial genius in waiting given his education.

Transfers:

Rolfes and his team have made no bones about their transfer strategy this summer, snapping up some of the most sought after young talents in Europe. Kennet Eichhorn, the holding midfielder that is mature far beyond his years, joins die Werkself from Hertha Berlin for a fee of €9m. Having only recently turned 17 at the end of July, Eichhorn is entering his second full season as a professional, having featured 19 times in all competitions last season. At 6ft1, he has a combative nature that saw him pick up seven yellow cards, which he might want to scale back. Unfortunately, he will not feature early in the season due to a diagnosis of a metabolic disorder which has caused his weight to drop significantly, and it will take some time for him to manage this issue and regain fitness.

Afonso Moreira signs from Olympique Lyon, the 21-year-old left-winger getting 19 combines goals and assists in all competition last season. The Portuguese man cost B04 a sizable €29.5m, and will be a starting option for Martínez Novell.

Miguel Gutiérrez joins the side from Serie A’s Napoli, the 25-year-old Spanish left-back signing for a deal worth €30m. Having graduated from Real Madrid’s academy, Gutiérrez spent three years as Girona’s first choice in his position before moving on to Napoli last summer. Fantastically adept going forward, he will be a suitable long-term replacement for Alejandro Grimaldo.

Their most recent signing is a World Cup finalist, having played 50 minutes for Argentina as they suffered a 1:0 defeat to Spain only a few weeks ago. Facundo Medina will cost B04 €23m to acquire him from Marseille, although he was on loan from Lens last season and only recently had his obligation to buy confirmed. Capable as a centre-back or left-back, Medina could slot nicely into Martínez Novell’s back three if he can somehow dislodge Edmond Tapsoba (a starter for six seasons) or Robert Andrich (the club captain).

Kerim Alajbegović, who featured and scored for Bosnia and Herzegovina at the World Cup recently, joined for €8m from Red Bull Salzburg, as the club exercised a buyback option on the man they let leave only last summer. But with the price being far below his market value, B04 chose to follow the money, selling the youngster for €30m to Juventus, rising to €40m with potential add-ons.

Two more big sales to discuss. The first player on the move is excellent club servant Alejandro Grimaldo, who was a key player for Xabi Alonso’s double-winning side in 2023/24. Now 30 years old, B04 did well to cash in by selling him to Atlético Madrid for €22m. Secondly, Piero Hincapié’s loan move to Arsenal was made permanent with the Premier League champions exercising their €40m option to buy for the Ecuadorian defender.

Key Player:

Ibrahim Maza is due to absolutely explode this season. The 20-year-old joined only last summer from Hertha Berlin, where he had his first full professional season in 2024/25, featuring in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations where he scored twice. He also played at the World Cup this summer but sadly failed to flourish in a not-so-impressive Algeria side. There is a reason, however, why Manchester City and now AC Milan are trying to sign him.

If Martínez Novell does go for the 3-4-3 or 3-4-2-1 (depending on how you look at it), I imagine Maza will feature as one of the two number 10s. If the Spaniard is as good as his reputation, Maza will likely be B04’s standout player and take his game to the next level. Just another step on this Berlin kid’s path to glory.

Predicted Line-Up:

Given the suitability of Martínez Novell to the existing squad, the only immediate change from last season that I can see is Gutiérrez for Grimaldo. Medina could force his way into the line-up too, especially as the left-sided centre-back, although I think the current back three are nicely settled.

Predicted Finish:

3^rd. Most of the players in the title-winning side are now gone, so that means that B04 can finally regenerate and move on from that era. The 6^th place finish last season was a disappointment, but the core of this squad was easily good enough to get into the Champions League, and they have only lost one starting player, while gaining a few options in the current transfer window.

Prediction Table (so far...)

1 -
2 -
3 - Bayer Leverkusen
4 -
5 -
6 -
7 -
8 - Union Berlin
9 -
10 -
11 - Mainz
12 -
13 -
14 -
15 -
16 -
17 - Köln
18 -

Club Name: 1. FSV Mainz 05

Founded: 1905

Stadium: MEWA Arena - 33,305 capacity

Nickname: Die Nullfünfer (The 0-5ers), Karnevalsverein (Carnival Club)

Titles: No major titles

Head Coach: Urs Fischer

Captain: Silvan Widmer

Mascot: No official mascot. Johannes the Clown is the mascot for the 05er KidsClub and thus serves as the unofficial mascot.

Goal Song: Carl Zulehner - Der Mainzer Narrhallamarsch

2025/26 Season: 10^th

Opening Fixture: SC Paderborn (H)

Head Coach:

If you were to paint a picture of a manager that was a no-nonsense, tough talking, seasoned veteran, it would look eerily similar to Mainz’s Urs Fischer. However, the 60-year-old belies his physical appearance by radiating calmness to his players on and off the pitch, but always being absolutely clear in his messaging. Being such an experienced coach, he knows to never get too high when winning, and never to get too low in defeat.

Fischer managed Zürich, Thun and Basel in his native Switzerland, before joining Union Berlin in 2018. In his first season, he won promotion to the Bundesliga for the East Berliners for the first time in their history. The fun didn’t stop there. In three consecutive seasons from 2020 to 2023, he qualified the club for the UEFA Conference League, Europa League and Champions League, respectively. For the 2022/23 campaign, he was named Bundesliga Manager of the Year. Sadly, a poor start to the following season, due to the pressure of Champions League football and a significant squad overhaul, caused Fischer to depart the club “by mutual consent”.

After two years out of coaching, Fischer was appointed as Mainz’s Head Coach when Bo Henriksen was dismissed in December 2025 with the club dead last in 18^th. Fischer did a remarkable, if not unsurprising, job by turning Mainz’s fortunes around and finishing in 10^th place. He lost only five of the remaining 21 Bundesliga games, winning nine and drawing the remaining seven. He also got the Nullfünfer to the quarter-finals of the Conference League, cruelly faltering to a strong Strasbourg side 4:2 on aggregate having carried a 2:0 lead into the second leg just two hours away over the French border.

His sides are always defence-first, and he utilises a rigid structure with a three (or five) at the back. They excel in transitional play and aim to generate chances from these almost exclusively. In 2025/26, Mainz averaged 44% possession, although certain matches stand out: the 2:2 draw away to Bayern Munich with 15% possession, and the 2:1 win at RB Leipzig with 31% possession epitomise how Fischer sets up his team for success against the bigger teams.

Transfers:

Mainz’s spending has been limited, with the biggest signing being Fabio Gruber from second tier 1. FC Nürnberg, a 23-year-old centre-back that cost €3.5million. I’m not sure that this will provide sufficient defensive reinforcement, though. The free signing of Eric Martel from 1. FC Köln, with Tom Krauß heading in the other direction for €3.5million isn’t terrible business, but it’s a very like-for-like transfer. Bringing in Ransford-Yeboah Königsdörffer (great name) on a free from Hamburger SV is also not bas business.

The most expensive departure, also for €3.5million (they seem to like this number), is right-back Nikolas Veratschnig who returns to his native Austria with Red Bull Salzburg. Also heading to the Ö-Bundesliga is 21-year-old striker Nelson Weiper, who had been lauded as a future German international in recent seasons. Zero goals from 24 Bundesliga appearances last season evidently convinced Fischer and his team to let him leave to Sturm Graz on loan to see if he can regain form and confidence.

The million Euro question that remains is the future of Kaishu Sano. The Japanese midfielder excelled under Fischer and made an impact at the World Cup, scoring against Brazil and providing an assist against Tunisia. The 25-year-old has a market value of €40million according to Transfermarkt, and the sharks are circling. Liverpool are touted as frontrunners to sign him, but Arsenal and Spurs are reportedly interested as well.

There was chatter around a move for star man Nadiem Amiri, with RB Leipzig reportedly interested in securing his services. Luckily for Mainz fans, Amiri put to bed any speculation last week by publicly stating his commitment to the club for the upcoming season, although with his contract only running to 2028, the same question could pop up in a year’s time.

Key Player:

Whatever the question is for Mainz this season, the answer is Nadiem Amiri. Their number ten, now aged 29, is a highly experienced Bundesliga midfielder and fully deserved his call-up by Julian Nagelsmann for Germany’s World Cup squad. He managed a combined 20 goals and assists last season in all competitions, and the team is relying on him massively to deliver again if they want to achieve anything in the coming season.

Aggregate numbers from DataMB shows that he was in the 89^th percentile for progressive passes completed amongst Bundesliga midfielders last season, and in the 82^nd percentile for progressive carries. He is perfect for Fischer’s system as he can hurt teams best during counterattacks when he has slightly more space to move into. Having played in a deeper role in previous seasons, he is thriving slightly further forward in this team. Naturally, this led to him recording 64 chances created during the season according to StatMuse, the 6^th highest in the league behind some seriously reputable names like Luis Díaz, Álex Grimaldo and Michael Olise. Not bad for a player on a team that was rock bottom at Christmas with one solitary win.

Predicted Line-up:

With Fischer’s side hitting fine form in the second half of the season, and little player turnover in the transfer window, I think we can assume that the line-up will look similar to what we’d gotten used to seeing in the first half of 2026.

Predicted Finish:

11^th – if they lose Sano, and it looks like there’s a strong chance of that happening, then Mainz are going to struggle to be more than mediocre this season. Fischer is a great manager but he can’t work wonders with Robin Zentner in goal and distinctly average players at the back which will hinder them from competing in the upper echelons of the league. Without European football to contend with, I expect them to have a much stronger start to the season and not flirt too much with relegation, but I struggle to envision a return to fighting for the Conference League again just yet.

Prediction Table (so far...)

1 -
2 -
3 -
4 -
5 -
6 -
7 -
8 - Union Berlin
9 -
10 -
11 - Mainz
12 -
13 -
14 -
15 -
16 -
17 - Köln
18 -

Club Name: 1. FC Union Berlin

Founded: 1966 (origins trace back to 1906)

Stadium: Stadion An der Alten Försterei - 22,012 capacity

Nickname: Die Eisernen (The Irons)

Titles: No major titles, DFB-Pokal runners-up x1

Head Coach: Mauro Lustrinelli

Captain: Christopher Trimmel

Mascot: Ritter Keule (a knight in iron armor)

Goal Song: None – Club prioritises fan atmosphere

2025/26 Season: 11^th

Opening Fixture: Eintracht Frankfurt (H)

Head Coach:

Mauro Lustrinelli, a former Swiss international, arrives at Union for this season having guided FC Thun to their first ever Swiss Super League title as a newly promoted side. No doubt that this was an incredible feat, but Lustrinelli still has to prove that he has the chops to manage in an elite European league.

Last season, Union began with Steffen Baumgart, seen as more of a stereotypical “old-head” that relied more on man management than tactics. By April, the board were left unconvinced despite a decent enough league position (11^th), and asked Marie-Louise Eta to see out the remaining games. In doing so, she became the first woman to ever coach, and win, in one of the top five men’s leagues in Europe.

Lustrinelli’s Thun side were a strong pressing unit, preferring to suffocate opponents and keep them as far away from Union’s goal as possible. Furthermore, he doesn’t mind creating chaos in midfield as long as he has battle-hardened midfielders that he can trust to dominate in duels and cover significant ground when recovering from losing possession.

I broke down what to expect from Lustrinelli’s side in a previous edition of The Bundesliga Chronicles, so if you want more detail, check it out here.

Transfers:

Replacing departing defenders was Union’s priority this summer, and they moved early to ensure they were prepared for pre-season. As soon as starting centre-backs Danilho Doekhi and Diogo Leite were out the door, Zeno van den Bosch and Marvin Friedrich had arrived. Stanley Nsoki soon joined for €1.5million from Hoffenheim to bolster their options. However, van den Bosch is almost certain to be the starter alongside Leopold Querfeld.

Elsewhere, striker Emmanuel Latte Lath has joined on loan from MLS side Atlanta FC. Despite a reliable record in his last European campaign with Middlesbrough, Latte Lath has struggled for goals in MLS which does not provide me with a lot of confidence that he will be the answer that Lustrinelli needs.

Their only sale so far is that of László Bénes, the 28-year-old Slovakian midfielder, to KAA Gent for €1.1million. He had been on loan at Kayserispor the previous season and was evidently not in the club’s plans.

Reinforcements are still needed on the wings, with Livan Burcu and Robert Skov the only solid options at the moment. Oliver Burke can fill in on the right-hand side, but I would expect him to be deployed as a striker in Lustrinelli’s system due to his pressing capabilities.

Key Player:

Leopold Querfeld has a huge season ahead of him. The 22-year-old Austrian impressed in the heart of defence last season, but had two more experienced players alongside him at the time. With a re-jig of the backline, Querfeld will have to step up and lead to make sure that the team gets over the line in tight games.

He was Union’s joint-top scorer last season with seven goals, being a significant threat from set-pieces but also a capable penalty taker. Other players will have to step up to get goals this season, as relying on your centre-back is not a sustainable tactical model, but I’m sure he will continue to chip in.

With a market value of €20million, he’s the sort of talent that Union will be happy to continue developing until the right offer comes along.

Predicted Line-up:

Captain Christopher Trimmel is now 39, and with his contract expiring next summer, I expect that he will continue to only feature as a bit-part player this season. This leaves Josip Juranović as the starting right-back.

Elsewhere, not many changes from last season appear to be on the horizon. The main tweak is that Lustrinelli is a proponent of the 4-4-2, and uses it as more of a 2-4-4 out of possession. This is a significant shift from last season where Union mostly opted for the 3-4-3, occasionally reverting to the 4-2-3-1 if the occasion suited them.

Predicted Finish:

8^th. I would add that I’m being quite generous and that this is the best case scenario. The ceiling of their squad’s ability is very apparent, but they are lucky to have picked up a manager that suits the current tactical trends so well, and I believe that he will get the results needed to continue Union’s improvement after a tumultuous couple of seasons. If Lustrinelli can get them competing for Europe, let alone succeeding in qualifying them, then it will be a huge success.

Prediction Table (so far...)

1 -
2 -
3 -
4 -
5 -
6 -
7 -
8 - Union Berlin
9 -
10 -
11 -
12 -
13 -
14 -
15 -
16 -
17 - Köln
18 -

Welcome to the first instalment of a short series here on The Bundesliga Chronicles, where I will be previewing every Bundesliga team in the 18 days leading up to the opening fixture, when Bayern München face VfB Stuttgart on Friday 28^th August. I’ve chosen to order teams alphabetically (including numbers), so we begin today with 1. FC Köln, and then onto 1. FC Union Berlin tomorrow. In each article, I will cover all the must-knows: the head coach, the summer transfers, the key player(s), and then predicting the line-up and their finishing position in the table. I’m sure I’ll be wildly wrong with a few of these predictions, but why not have a bit of fun with it?

Club Name: 1. FC Köln

Founded: 1948

Stadium: RheinEnergieStadion - 49,698 capacity

Nickname: Effzeh (“FC”), Die Geißböcke (The Billy Goats)

Titles: Bundesliga x2, DFB-Pokal x4

Head Coach: René Wagner

Captain: Marvin Schwäbe

Mascot: Hennes VIII (a real billy goat)

Goal Song: De Räuber - Denn wenn et Trömmelche jeht

2025/26 Season: 14^th

Opening Fixture: Hoffenheim (H)

Head Coach:

René Wagner has been appointed permanently in the role he started as caretaker for the final seven games of the 2025/26 campaign. Not much is known about Wagner, as he never played professionally, or seemingly semi-professionally.

Having coached at various sides in the USA from 2015 to 2020, Wagner joined Steffen Baumgart’s staff as Assistant Manager initially at SC Paderborn. Wagner followed his boss to Köln, Hamburger SV and 1. FC Union Berlin, before rejoining Köln last summer under Lukas Kwasniok. After Kwasniok’s dismissal in March 2026, Wagner took over and hit the ground running. I’m just kidding, he only won one of the last seven games after Köln played 70 minutes against a 10-man Werder Bremen.

Not to disparage Wagner’s career at all, because it requires incredible hard work to get to this stage without a background playing senior men’s football, but readers will appreciate why I feel concerned for Köln fans regarding this situation. Let’s reserve judgment for now and see how he gets on in his first full season as the head coach.

Transfers:

The biggest transfer is signing young English centre-back Jahmai Simpson-Pusey from Manchester City for €6million, who featured 11 times for the North-Rhine Westphalia side as a loan player since January 2026. Midfielder Tom Krauß joins permanently from Mainz, also following a successful loan spell. Following a decent showing at the World Cup, 21-year-old Australian midfielder Paul Okon-Engstler signed from Sydney FC for just €1.75m. Ghanaian left-back Gideon Mensah joins on a free transfer after being set for release by AJ Auxerre.

Shoutout to another talented Manchester City player, Reigan Heskey, son of Emile. The €2million signing will provide an option on the left-wing for René Wagner to consider.

The key departure here is Jakub Kamiński, with the 24-year-old Polish winger moving to Benfica for €17m soon after Effzeh had activated the €5.5m purchase option in his loan deal from Wolfsburg. Easy profit, then. Another tough loss is Florian Kainz, who has retired aged 33 having been the club captain for three seasons.

Key Player:

If he stays, which is looking increasingly unlikely, the key player here is undoubtedly teenage sensation Said El Mala. Borussia Dortmund are close to agreeing a deal for him, and Köln are close to securing the services of Mikey Moore from Tottenham Hotspur, another 19-year-old left-winger, to be his replacement. El Mala was overlooked by Julian Nagelsmann for Germany’s World Cup squad, with some pundits and fans believing this to be unfair given the team’s lack of options in wide areas (which proved to be the case).

El Mala is a young prodigy and Köln’s obvious goal threat. 13 Bundesliga goals last term helped to stave off any real relegation fight, and Effzeh have been hoping he has it in him again to keep banging them in. He averages 3.4 shots per 90, with 32% of his shots coming from outside the area, showing that he is not afraid to test the goalkeeper regardless of the probability being stacked against him. It’s my personal belief that every team needs one of those players on the pitch.

If his departure to BVB goes through, then midfielder Ísak Jóhannesson will have a far bigger responsibility to pull the strings than he already does. He is only 23 now, but he is the most likely player to create chances.

Predicted Line-up:

With so little to go off from Wagner’s tenure as caretaker, I’m having to make a lot of assumptions here. El Mala was often used as a striker once the club realised what a talent they had on their hands, but I’ve opted to keep him on the wing for now as I do think Ragnar Ache is a decent option up front.

Predicted Finish:

17^th – if El Mala leaves, I feel much more secure in this prediction. Either way, Köln is a club that has struggled to maintain its Bundesliga status throughout the 21^st century and there is a severe lack of talent available currently, which makes relegation a real possibility again. Pair this with appointing a head coach that has never held the title before at any level of the game, and losing their trusty captain in the dressing room, it becomes evident that Köln face an uphill battle this season.

Prediction Table (so far...)

1 -
2 -
3 -
4 -
5 -
6 -
7 -
8 -
9 -
10 -
11 -
12 -
13 -
14 -
15 -
16 -
17 - Köln
18 -

2026/27 should be no different, with some historically giant clubs vying to return to their “rightful” place in the Bundesliga. Matchday 1 kicks off on Friday 7^th August as VfL Bochum take on Hertha Berlin at the 27,599 capacity Ruhrstadion. Let’s look at a selection of the clubs, players, managers, and fiery derbies that you need to be following all season long.

Where We Left Off: The Previous Season

The 2025/26 2. Bundesliga season contained surprises up top and at the bottom which are worth investigating. Schalke 04 romped to the title in the end, finishing eight points clear of SV Elversberg in 2^nd. Schalke had finished the prior season in 14^th, after severe financial issues and on-pitch failures. The appointment of Miron Muslić as manager last summer signaled an inevitable improvement, although a title charge still seemed far off. Establishing a strong defensive unit, Muslić made his side incredibly tough to beat at the expense of outscoring opponents. Even clubs that finished down in 13^th and 14^th scored more than Schalke over the course of the season.

SV Elversberg were cruelly denied promotion by a 90+5^th minute winner in the second leg of their promotion/relegation playoff in 2024/25, but managed to go one better last season, sealing promotion to the Bundesliga on the final matchday. The villagers will compete in the Bundesliga for the first time in their history. SC Paderborn caused an upset by winning the playoff against VfL Wolfsburg, whose 29-year Bundesliga stint came to an abrupt end.

Amongst the middling clubs, Hannover 96, SV Darmstadt and Hertha Berlin managed to climb up the table but fell short of a proper promotion push. In the other direction, relegated side Holstein Kiel limped along to a 12^th-placed finish, while 1. FC Magdeburg ended up 14 points worse off, dropping from 5^th to 14^th. Greuther Fürth also fell from 13^th to 16^th, only avoiding automatic relegation by leapfrogging Fortuna Düsseldorf on the final day. Fortuna’s relegation was confirmed as a result of that 3:0 defeat in Fürth, joining Preußen Münster in next season’s 3. Liga.

Where We’re At: The Summer Changes

For the first time since 2019, and the first time following the removal of the infamous away goals rule, three clubs will be switching places between the Bundesliga and the Zweite. The aforementioned promotion/relegation playoff saw Paderborn swap with Wolfsburg, alongside the top two of Schalke and Elversberg.

The other two sides returning from short stints in the Bundesliga are 1. FC Heidenheim and FC. St Pauli. Heidenheim, being a village club, reached the dizzying heights of the UEFA Conference League in their debut Bundesliga season in 2023/24, before the European campaign saw them suffer in the league. After surviving the league phase of their European competition, they were knocked out of the playoff round by FC Copenhagen, and ever the fan of the playoff, they only achieved Klassenerhalt (avoiding relegation) by dispatching Elversberg in the promotion/relegation playoff. Last season was one too many, and despite a late rally to maintain Bundesliga status, a final day loss at home to 1. FSV Mainz 05 sealed their fate.

Hamburg-based St. Pauli ended a two-year stay in the top flight in 18^th place, after a true winner-takes-all final match when they hosted Wolfsburg, with the bottom three clubs all level on 26 points. With only 29 goals in the Bundesliga, St. Pauli hardly gave themselves a chance of survival – their joint-top scorers managed just four league goals each.

At the other end, Fortuna Düsseldorf and Preußen Münster have been replaced by the two promoted sides from the 3. Liga – VfL Osnabrück and Energie Cottbus. Osnabrück are something of a yo-yo team between the second and third tiers. Having been promoted to the 2. Bundesliga in 2019 and relegated again in 2021, die Lila-Weißen (The Purple-Whites) managed to regain promotion in 2023 but faced immediate relegation. Two more years on, the fans in Lower Saxony will be hoping that this promotion is the one that sticks.

The return of Energie Cottbus is the one to get excited about. Having spent six years in the Bundesliga during the 2000s, the East Germans fell on hard times and spent six of seven seasons in the fourth-tier Regionalliga Nordost until regaining professional status in 2024. After a strong 4^th-placed finish in 2024/25, die Lausitzer (The Lusatians) achieved the coveted promotion spot and will join Dynamo Dresden and Magdeburg in the Ossi contingent of the Zweite.

Four clubs have confirmed managerial changes over the summer. Karlsruher SC and Arminia Bielefeld let their respective managers, Christian Eichner and Michél Kniat, leave by mutual consent after mid-table finishes. Eichner leaves Karlsruher after six-and-a-half seasons, while Kniat departs after three years. Karlsruher have brought in Maximilian Senft, who leaves Austrian Bundesliga outfit SV Ried after achieving a solid 7^th-placed finish (out of 12) one year after winning promotion from the second tier. Arminia, meanwhile, are bringing in Oliver Kirch, a former player who held several youth coaching positions from 2018 to 2021, before stints as manager of Hamburger SV U-19, Borussia Mönchengladbach U-19, and Borussia Mönchengladbach II.

Dieter Hecking, who returned to Wolfsburg in a “firefighter” capacity in March but failed to save the club’s Bundesliga status, has moved up to a Sporting Director position. His replacement is Tobias Strobl, who coached minnows SC Verl to 6^th in the 3. Liga by playing a possession-based style which he will seek to implement at a Wolfsburg side that should be dominating opponents this season with the squad they have.

The final managerial change happened at St. Pauli, where Alexander Blessin was sacked following relegation. Marcel Rapp, having been fired himself by Holstein Kiel after just over four years in charge, will move slightly south to take the reins. Rapp brought Kiel to their first (and so far, only) Bundesliga campaign, and stayed in post following relegation, but his failure to mount another promotion charge led to him being dismissed in February 2026.

Our Fallen Giants: The Biggest Clubs

There are four former Bundesliga champions present in the 2. Bundesliga this season – Wolfsburg, 1. FC Kaiserslautern, 1. FC Nürnberg and Eintracht Braunschweig. But before I move on to two of these, let’s start with a club that has two German titles from the pre-Bundesliga era: Hannover 96.

Die Roten (The Reds, which is confusing due to the green, white and black logo) won the German championship in 1938 and 1954, and became the only second tier club to win the DFB-Pokal by defeating Borussia Mönchengladbach on penalties in 1992. After a relatively successful period during the 2000s, and two consecutive Europa League campaigns from 2011 to 2013, they were relegated in 2016. Despite immediate promotion under former academy graduate André Breitenreiter, they never fully took to the Bundesliga again, and Breitenreiter was sacked in 2019 as the club headed towards a relegation that they have failed to bounce back from. Six further managers came and went before Breitenreiter returned in December 2024 for the rest of the season but only guided the club to 9^th. Now under the guidance of Christian Titz, H96 have one of the strongest squads in the division and it’s only a matter of time until they bring the impressive 49,000-capacity Heinz von Heiden-Arena back to where it belongs.

We now march southbound to Bavaria, where 1. FC Nürnberg are located. The 1967/68 Bundesliga champions, who also boast seven national titles from the previous era, have been out of the top flight just as long as H96, being relegated in 2019 but never finishing higher than 8^th since as they have struggled for consistency since. Leaning into their status as a breeding ground for young talent, Der Club has achieved its top five record player sales in just the last three seasons. Nathaniel Brown and Can Uzun are academy products that were sold to Eintracht Frankfurt for a combined €25m, while Finn Jeltsch was sold to VfB Stuttgart for €9.5m. Caspar Jander was signed from MSV Duisburg for no cost before being sold a year later to Southampton for €12m, while Stefanos Tzimas was sold to Brighton and Hove Albion for €26.5m just six months after signing from PAOK in his native Greece. With several other prospects in their ranks for the coming season, and German legend Miroslav Klose entering his third season as Head Coach, fans at the 50,000-capacity Max-Morlock-Stadion will be hoping that their beloved club can build on its progress to mount a real push for promotion this time around.

Two-time Bundesliga champions 1. FC Kaiserslautern are the third and final club with significant pedigree to make it into this segment. With the iconic Fritz-Walter-Stadion sitting at a capacity of 49,327 (just behind Nürnberg and ahead of Hannover), the Rhineland-Palatinate club are also seeking to return to the Bundesliga, having last featured in 2011/12. Although they featured in 40 of the first 41 Bundesliga seasons, Die roten Teufel (The Red Devils) have spent 14 of the 20 seasons since then in the 2. Bundesliga, even slipping down to the third tier for the first time ever in 2018 and only returning four years later. After 10 years as Eintracht Braunschweig Head Coach, followed by shorter stints with MSV Duisburg and SV Darmstadt, former academy graduate Torsten Lieberknecht is in his rightful position as Lautern Head Coach, entering his second full season. Having recently forged an identity as a proving ground for loanees from Bundesliga clubs, could this be the season that FCK finally return to the big time?

Our Big Dreamers: The Smallest Clubs

This may surprise some readers since they were in the Bundesliga only two seasons ago, but Holstein Kiel were truly punching above their weight with that achievement. The most far-north professional club in Germany, and Schleswig-Holstein’s only professional representative, they only reached the 2. Bundesliga for the first time in 2017, having spent time in the second tier in the 60s and 70s when it was still split regionally. Eventually reaching the Bundesliga for 2024/25, the debutants managed only six wins and were relegated in 17^th. Their return to the Zweite ended in a fairly disappointing finish in 12^th place, with Tim Walter coming in mid-season for his second spell in charge to replace the long-serving Marcel Rapp. Die Störche (The Storks) have been superbly well-managed in the 21^st century, having had to raise €1.6m to renovate their ground as it was completely unsuitable for professional football. Never ones to overinvest, their record signing is American left-back John Tolkin who was signed during the Bundesliga campaign for €2.5m and he remains at the club today.

VfL Osnabrück are another northern club that makes this list, and one of only two sides this season (alongside 1. FC Magdeburg) that have never played in the Bundesliga. They have done fantastically well to achieve seven promotions into the second tier since 2000, but unfortunately four of the six previous promotions have ended in immediate relegation. The good news is that they have never dropped below the third tier in their history, ensuring a stability that many clubs in Germany will be jealous of. The 15,741-capacity Stadion an der Bremer Brücke is always packed with fans sporting the famous violet club colours, and they will be hoping that this time they are here to stay in the second tier. Manager Timo Schultz joined last summer and achieved what he set out to do, but he has come off a short spell at FC Basel where he only won once in the Swiss Super League, followed by a Bundesliga relegation with 1. FC Köln. Maybe he has found his level now – the people of Osnabrück need it to be true for this occasion to be different.

Coming off the back of a three-year Bundesliga stint which included a UEFA Conference League campaign, fans across Germany are mostly happy to see 1. FC Heidenheim finally heading in the other direction. A small town of just 50,000 people, Heidenheim’s fortunes changed in 2007 when the football club separated from a larger multi-sport club, Heidenheimer SB. Hometown hero Frank Schmidt retired and became Head Coach that same year and is now entering his 20^th season in the role, having broken the record for longest-serving Head Coach three years ago already. Hardly anyone outside Baden-Württemberg had heard of the town of Heidenheim, let alone the club, but with backing from hundreds of local businesses, the club rose through the leagues to reach the 2. Bundesliga for the first time in 2014. Now returning after their stay in the Bundesliga, this will be a huge season for Schmidt and his team. With the oldest average age in the league (26.4), the Heidenheim players certainly have the experience and mental strength to get back to the Bundesliga. If they drift back into mid-table obscurity, however, I can see Schmidt finally leaving, which would really see everything unravel.

Impact Players

Joel Chima Fujita – FC St. Pauli – Central Midfielder

St. Pauli’s most critical player this season will be the 24-year-old technician, Joel Chima Fujita. Although he didn’t make the World Cup squad, Fujita is a Japanese international player that is also half-Nigerian, and he came to Europe through the Japanese-owned club Sint-Truiden in Belgium. Having signed for St. Pauli last summer, Fujita was a starter in the relegated side but was one of the few that stood out. I believe that a return to the Bundesliga, whether it be with St. Pauli or by being signed elsewhere, is on the cards by this time next year.

Mohamed Alì Zoma – 1. FC Nürnberg – Striker
Zoma appeared from essentially nowhere to become one of the most talked about 2. Bundesliga players last season. Born and raised in Italy, the striker, who can also play in a withdrawn role or on the left, spent four seasons with AlbinoLeffe in Serie C. Nürnberg picked him up for just €800k last summer, and Zoma has not looked out of place at all. With 14 goals and four assists last season, the 22-year-old could really kick on and should be aiming for the top scorer award.

Patrick Mainka – 1. FC Heidenheim – Central Defender
The Heidenheim captain proved himself as a Bundesliga-level defender during Heidenheim’s spell in the top flight, so he returns to the second tier as one of the league’s elite players. Now 31, Mainka has been a mainstay under Frank Schmidt and has played every single league fixture since the start of 2022/23. If the club is to fight for an immediate return to the Bundesliga, he will be a huge part of it. Standing at an imposing 6ft4, Mainka isn’t one to get on the ball and play passes that cut through the lines, but he will shut down strikers and win every duel during set-pieces. At this level, that should be enough.

Pascal Loretz – Hannover 96 – Goalkeeper
Hannover have been building for promotion for many years now, and it’s signings like this that make me believe that they are serious about it this season. Loretz has been the starting goalkeeper for FC Luzern in his native Switzerland for the last three years, and at just €1.1m, H96 have got a bargain on a goalkeeper that has been touted at a future Switzerland international. Indeed, he was called up to the senior team once in 2025 as a backup option, although he didn’t get any minutes. Still only 23 years old, Loretz has a lot to learn as he moves to a new league, but he is more than capable of handling the pressure.

Ismail Badjie – VfL Osnabrück – Utility
This Osnabrück side is light on technical quality, but 20-year-old Ismail Badjie is the secret weapon in their ranks. With the 11 assists and eight goals of Lars Kehl walking out the door for free in Darmstadt’s direction, other players will have to step up and provide creativity. Last season was Badjie’s breakthrough as a first-team regular, and with eight goals to his name, he can certainly have an impact going forwards. Badjie is trained as a midfielder, but spent most of last season as a right-winger/wing-back in Timo Schultz’s 3-4-2-1. He could have a future in central midfield or as one of the two number 10s, though.

Rafael Pinto Pedrosa – Karlsruher SC – Right-Back

A prodigy that plays with maturity beyond his years, Rafael Pinto Pedrosa cemented his place in Karlsruher’s first-team last season, competing with the veteran Sebastian Jung. Still only 18, he started four matches at this summer’s U-19 Euros with Germany, as they finished runners-up to Spain. Mostly used as a wing-back at club level, Pinto is capable of providing a strong attacking outlet, creating 15 chances and being in the 89^th percentile for fouls won last season.

Thierry Fidjeu-Tazemeta Jr. – 1. FC Kaiserslautern – Right-Winger

Another teenage prodigy to keep an eye out for, as Borussia Dortmund have loaned out Austrian 19-year-old Thierry Fidjeu-Tazemeta Jr. to Kaiserslautern. The son of a former Equatorial Guinea international, Tazemeta is a 6ft4 winger with phenomenal physicality and agility, also possessing a strong eye for goal. He scored nine times in just 14 games for the BVB U-19s last season, and it speaks volumes to how highly rated he is at his parent club that they’ve opted to skip the 3. Liga and loan him to a big club in the second tier.

Linus Gechter – Hertha Berlin – Central Defender

A Hertha Berlin academy product, Linus Gechter is now in his sixth season as a professional despite only being 22. Having started in all 30 leagues games that he featured in last term, he has cemented his spot in the XI and it’s time for him to really kick on. Gechter is exceptional at pure defending but is also comfortable with progressing the ball, whether that be with progressive passes into midfield or carrying the ball himself. Now also a fixture in Germany’s U-21 squad, Gechter plainly has a future in the Bundesliga and it’s time for him to step up.

Mateusz Żukowski – 1. FC Magdeburg – Striker

The 2. Bundesliga unicorn is undoubtedly Mateusz Żukowski. With 17 goals in only 21 games last season, Żukowski is the highest-scoring player that remains in the league for next season (top scorer Noel Futkeu left Greuther Fürth for Eintracht Frankfurt). Having been signed as a right-back a year ago from relegated Polish side Śląsk Wrocław, Żukowski did not feature until November. An injury crisis forced him into the starting lineup as a striker, and two goals later, he was the club hero. The 24-year-old even made his debut for Poland in May. Having found a new lease of life, watch out to see if he can keep it up his habit of scoring goals.

Fabian Reese – VfL Wolfsburg – Attacking Midfielder/Left-Winger

Last, but by no means least, we have Wolfsburg’s new signing, Fabian Reese. Reese has consistently been one of the best players in the second division for six years now, first at Holstein Kiel and then at Hertha Berlin. With 46 goals and 38 assists in his last four campaigns, Reese is exactly the player Wolfsburg need as they adapt to life in the second tier. Amongst all the players with far higher market values on Wolfsburg’s books, the 28-year-old sporting his (in)famous headband will deliver the numbers needed under Tobias Strobl’s guidance.

Clash of Titans: The 2. Bundesliga Derbies

Frankenderby - Nürnberg vs. Greuther Fürth

In the northern part of Bavaria lies the historical region of Franconia, or Franken as the Germans call it. Nürnberg is the largest city in the region, but just 10 kilometres away is the city of Fürth, part of the Nürnberg metropolitan region but very much a city in its own right. 1. FC Nürnberg’s accolades have been referenced already, but in the 1910s and 20s, the two teams developed a huge rivalry as Fürth became strong challengers, winning three national championships.

The two club’s fortunes diverged significantly after this period, and Fürth have only competed in the Bundesliga twice – in 2012/13 and 2022/23. But with both clubs now solidly contained within the second tier, the rivalry has developed a different edge. Nürnberg’s largest attendances tend to be for the Derby, and they maintain the upper hand by some distance. Der Club has 142 wins to 82 for die Kleeblätter (The Shamrocks), with 52 draws across numerous competitions in the two clubs’ storied pasts. Honours were even in both editions of the Frankenderby last term, so let’s hope we see a decider this time around.

Elb-Clásico – Dynamo Dresden vs. Magdeburg

This East German classic is fiercely competitive, and absolutely worth a watch as a neutral. Smartly dubbed the “Elb-Clásico”, referencing the River Elbe, this derby between two heavyweights of the old DDR-Oberliga remains in the 2. Bundesliga as Dynamo Dresden achieved a solid 11^th-place finish after a three year stint in the 3. Liga. Based in the capital of Sachsen (Saxony), Dynamo Dresden were one of the dominant teams in the DDR, achieving eight league titles, second only to Berliner FC Dynamo. Magdeburg, which is the capital of the neighbouring state Sachsen-Anhalt, were the joint-most successful cup team in the DRR, winning seven and tying Dresden’s record. Magdeburg also won the DDR-Oberliga on three occasions.

Since reunification, Dresden began in the Bundesliga but were relegated in 1995, and neither club has featured in the top-flight since. This makes the derby even more spicy as there is a whole generation of fans that have not seen either club above the second tier. Every win these two claim over one another is seen as a step closer to reaching the Bundesliga again. Dresden hold the lead with 42 to 23 with 21 draws, however the Elb-Clásico record in the 2. Bundesliga is finely poised at 1-2-1. With both clubs able to hose just over 30,000 fans on matchdays, the atmosphere is always electric, and dare I say vicious.

Niedersachsenderby – Hannover 96 vs. Eintracht Braunschweig

The closest head-to-head record of any 2. Bundesliga derby belongs to the Niedersachsenderby (Lower Saxony Derby), between Hannover and Braunschweig. With the clubs 55km apart, it is not the geographically closest rivalry in Germany, but it is certainly one of the oldest. With die Löwen (The Lions) founded in 1895, and Hannover in 1896, Braunschweig fans to this very day refuse to say the number “96”, instead preferring to say “95+1” to cement their bragging rights as the oldest club in the state of Niedersachsen. The clubs competed closely in the Oberliga Nord in the first half of the 20^th century, and with Hannover leading in national champions by two to one, they can now claim that as the ultimate win.

In recent years, the derby hasn’t occurred as often since Braunschweig have only featured in one Bundesliga campaign since 1985. But with Hannover now in a lengthy second tier spell, the rivalry has begun to heat up significantly with the derby heading into its fifth consecutive league season. The all-time records for the Niedersachsenderby have Eintracht Braunschweig ahead, with 69 wins to Hannover’s 60, with 31 draws. However, in the post-war period, Hannover now lead by 32 wins to 30 as they picked up six points from the two matchups last season, so for any fan of these two clubs that is still alive, they’ll have almost definitely seen Hannover do more winning.

My Final Prediction

1 – VfL Wolfsburg

2 – Hannover 96

3 – SV Darmstadt

4 – 1. FC Nürnberg

5 – 1. FC Kaiserslautern

6 – FC St. Pauli

7 – Hertha Berlin

8 – 1. FC Heidenheim

9 – Karlsruher SC

10 – Dynamo Dresden

11 – VfL Bochum

12 – Arminia Bielefeld

13 – Greuther Fürth

14 – Energie Cottbus

15 – Holstein Kiel

16 – 1. FC Magdeburg

17 – Eintracht Braunschweig

18 – VfL Osnabrück