By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
@BayernMunich.
FC Bayern München may get their first opportunity to wrap up the 2025-26 Bundesliga title when they welcome VfB Stuttgart to the Allianz Arena on Sunday.
Vincent Kompany’s side, who have scored a record-breaking 105 league goals already this season, hold a 12-point lead over closest pursuers Borussia Dortmund with only five rounds of fixtures left to play. If they manage to better BVB’s result at TSG Hoffenheim on Saturday, the Bavarians will be crowned Bundesliga champions for the 34th time.
That, though, is easier said than done against a Stuttgart side enjoying a magnificent campaign themselves. The Swabians were beaten 2-0 by Dortmund on Matchday 28 but moved back up to third in the table with a resounding 4-0 win over Hamburger SV last time out, leaving them well positioned to secure a place in next season’s UEFA Champions League.
Like Bayern, Dortmund face what is likely to be one of their toughest fixtures of the season in Sinsheim. Hoffenheim have won only one of their last seven Bundesliga games but have not relinquished hope of securing Champions League football for the first time since 2018-19. BVB, for their part, will confirm their place in next year’s competition if they better Bayer 04 Leverkusen’s result at home to FC Augsburg.
Kasper Hjulmand’s fifth-placed side kept their own top-four aspirations alive with a superb 1-0 victory at Signal Iduna Park on Matchday 29, with Robert Andrich scoring the only goal late in the first half. The Leverkusen skipper was instrumental at both ends of the pitch, helping keep a first clean sheet since early March, and extend their unbeaten league run to seven matches.
Elsewhere on Saturday, Marie-Louise Eta will become the first female to take charge of a Bundesliga fixture after being appointed as interim successor to Steffen Baumgart at 1. FC Union Berlin. The 34-year-old will look to guide 11th-placed Union to a first win in three against second-bottom VfL Wolfsburg, who sit seven points adrift of SV Werder Bremen in outright safety.
Daniel Thioune’s charges hold a three-point cushion over the relegation play-off spot but continue to look nervously over their shoulders after losing at 1. FC Köln last weekend – Werder’s third defeat in four matches. Saturday’s clash with northern rivals Hamburg – the first top-flight Nordderby to take place at the Weserstadion since 2018 – represents an ideal opportunity to make amends.
In the last of Saturday’s five games, RB Leipzig will look to take a big step towards securing a place in next season’s Champions League when they travel to Eintracht Frankfurt. Five wins from six have helped Ole Werner’s team consolidate a top-four spot, but Eintracht are unbeaten at home under Albert Riera and still harbour hopes of qualifying for continental football themselves.
SC Freiburg, currently just two points behind Frankfurt in eighth, will be ready to capitalise if Riera’s charges drop points. Julian Schuster’s team, who come into the game on the back of a UEFA Europa League quarter-final in Spain and face a DFB-Pokal semi-final next week, will be confident of overcoming bottom club 1. FC Heidenheim 1846, who are nine points shy of outright safety after snapping a 15-game winless run last weekend against Union Berlin.
Raising the Matchday 30 curtain are FC St. Pauli and Köln, who are looking to establish an eight-point cushion over their opponents in 16th place. The Billy Goats ended a run of seven league games without a win against Bremen on Matchday 29, as René Wagner made the perfect start to his reign as interim head coach.
The weekend’s final fixture sees Borussia Mönchengladbach host Urs Fischer’s resurgent 1. FSV Mainz 05, who suffered their first defeat since mid-February against Freiburg last timeout. Despite that reverse, only the Bundesliga’s current top four have collected more points than Fischer’s troops during the second half of the season. Gladbach, by contrast, sit just five points above the relegation play-off spot in 14th.