Dhe Bundesliga second half of the season began with disappointment even before the first game, although it was not a particularly surprising one: Niko Kovac, coach of second-placed Borussia Dortmund, gave up the fight for the championship because he was eleven points behind FC Bayern. “I think everyone can see that we can’t attack Bayern,” he said. And Dortmund proved that again on Saturday, despite winning 3-2 against St. Pauli in the last minute. However, other table regions than those at the top were more relevant on matchday 18 (all results can be found here).
Where is the crisis most acute right now?
In Frankfurt. At Eintracht, sports director Markus Krösche openly questioned coach Dino Toppmöller after the 3-3 draw in Bremen on Friday evening: “We can’t continue like this, we can’t perform like this. We are Eintracht Frankfurt and we have demands on ourselves about how we want to play football.” That doesn’t sound good for Toppmöller.
:“We can’t continue like this”
Is Frankfurt coach Dino Toppmöller about to be eliminated? Against Bremen, Eintracht conceded three goals again, and sports director Krösche refused to give the coach a job guarantee.
Where has the crisis been averted?
In Cologne. There had been talk of serious atmospheric tensions between coach Lukas Kwasniok and the team for days. Despite a fairly comfortable position in the middle of the table for the relegation battle, everyone agreed that the game against Mainz was a kind of final for the coach. And he initially threatened to lose it: After a deserved 0-1 deficit at the break – Mainz defender Stefan Bell scored like a center forward with a shot from the turn under the crossbar (29th) – there were whistles from the fans who had already protested against Kwasniok last weekend.
During a half-time break that was probably quite important for him personally, the coach made three changes, including bringing on striker Ragnar Ache. And the summer addition from 1. FC Kaiserslautern ensured that Cologne turned the game around with two header goals (57th, 85th) and won again for the first time since the ninth matchday. Ache scored the goal to make the final score 2-1 by hitting the post with his face. “It was already emotional today,” said Kwasniok in the Dazn interview, appearing very relieved himself and formulating a conclusion that sounded like a peace offering to the restless environment: “The stadium pulled this off today, together with the team.” Mainz, who arrived without Nadiem Amiri, who was ill, is now second to last in the table again.
Anyone else dissatisfied?
There wasn’t much missing, and the mood in Dortmund would have been extremely bad. But it wasn’t, on the contrary: the Westfalenstadion celebrated a penalty goal from Emre Can in stoppage time for a 3-2 win against FC St. Pauli.
Similar to the 3-0 win against Werder Bremen during the week, BVB didn’t necessarily treat its fans to a spectacle against the relegation candidate. Even Friedrich Merz, who was in the stands next to Dortmund President Hans-Joachim Watzke and was in the stadium for the first time as Chancellor, initially saw little to distract him from his not necessarily pleasant job.
In stoppage time in the first half, BVB finally found a way through Hamburg’s defense, Karim Adeyemi passed the ball back to Brandt, who only had to score into the empty goal (45th + 1). Unlike against Bremen, it wasn’t a comfortable, confident victory: After Adeyemi initially increased (54th), FC St. Pauli, the weakest offensive in the league, equalized through James Sands (62nd) and substitute Ricky Jade-Jones (72nd). But Dortmund’s attack was actually rewarded with Serhou Guirassy coming on as a late substitute, and Can kept his nerve in front of the south stand.
Where is the mood good?
In Hoffenheim the stadium wasn’t sold out again, but the league’s surprise team still made it clear from the start that they were no longer the league’s surprise team. You’re almost expecting Hoffenheim to push Bayer Leverkusen back, right? In any case, the Leverkusen team expected it, and it was no coincidence that they hit almost every ball long and far forward, especially in the early stages – the plan was obviously to escape the infamous Hoffenheim press. It was difficult to judge whether this was a sensible plan, because after just nine minutes Hoffenheim countered Leverkusen’s ruse with a (of course surprising) counter-ruse. Midfielder Wouter Burger converted a direct free kick from a crossing position – he didn’t reveal whether it was intentional or not.
The fact that Leverkusen’s goalkeeper Mark Flekken had to leave the field later (60th) was not due to the somewhat perplexed impression he left with this goal. He had to pass due to an injury – and watched from outside as Leverkusen center forward Patrik Schick missed a huge chance to equalize. After a save by Hoffenheim’s keeper Oliver Baumann, Schick was free to volley from three meters away from the goal, but shot over (68′). The Leverkusen team were no longer able to get into an urgent phase, which resulted in their second defeat in the second game of 2026. And Hoffenheim? Everyone who came to the stadium was in an extremely good mood after the 1-0 result when they looked at the blitz table. There was 3rd place.
Will the relegation battle at least remain exciting?
Already. In the stadium in Wolfsburg, which was also not sold out, the 19,360 fans finally had to realize that their home team VfL will probably not be able to offer its fans a so-called quiet season. At least based on what we learned from this first day of the second half of the season, things are likely to get more complicated. The main concern for the Wolfsburg team is the fact that the guests from Heidenheim already had enough of their regained intensity to be competitive – and not even to take an undeserved lead shortly before the break. At a time when the Wolfsburg team, who were already not very intense, were looking forward to tea in a particularly low-key manner. Midfielder Adrian Beck, brought back into the starting line-up by coach Frank Schmidt, finished after a cross from Marvin Pieringer and a small, friendly deflection from the turn. Later, Beck almost made it 2-0 with a header (60th) – but because the football god apparently has a strange sense of humor, he gave Wolfsburg a classic Heidenheim goal in the 80th minute: After a corner from Christian Eriksen, Moritz Jenz somehow headed the ball into the goal to make it 1-1. Given the turbulent final moments in the other places, which was still enough for Heidenheim to jump from 18th place to 16th place in the relegation zone.
And what else?
In Hamburg, fans dedicated large banners to the alleged circumstances of the separation from sports director Stefan Kuntz: “Whether block or boardroom: No place for attacks in our club / solidarity with all affected HSV employees”. On the pitch, the team impressed against Borussia Mönchengladbach, had the opponent completely under control – but did not manage to score a goal. Result: 0:0. Hamburg’s lead over the relegation place is four points.
