By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Bundesliga action is back this weekend after a three-week winter break, with plenty of big clashes on Matchday 16 to kick off the new year.
A pair of the league’s UEFA Champions League representatives will contest the first Bundesliga tie of 2026 on Friday evening as Eintracht Frankfurt host Borussia Dortmund.
Frankfurt have already made a host of winter signings as they look to improve on their seventh place going into the break. Among those are a young Japanese pairing in left-back Keita Kosugi and attacker Keito Kumashiro.
Bundesliga 2 top scorer Younes Ebnoutalib has also been signed from SV Elversberg to boost the Eagles, but their promising attack faces a tough test.
Dortmund boast the secondbest defence in the league so far with just 12 goals conceded, and they have lost only one match so far this season as they continue their strong development under Niko Kovač.
A Dortmund win would add a little pressure to FC Bayern München by reducing the titleholders’ lead to six points before their first match of the year against VfL Wolfsburg on Sunday afternoon.
Bayern will be hoping to continue the incredible form that set them well apart from the rest of the league before the winter break, with a staggering 13 wins and 55 goals from their unbeaten opening 15 matches.
Strike sensation Harry Kane has a huge 19 of those goals to his credit, putting him on course to challenge Robert Lewandowski’s all-time record of 41 goals in a Bundesliga season by the end of May.
With nine goals in their three matches before the winter break, Wolfsburg will be hopeful of stretching Bayern. Germany U21 international Dženan Pejčinović, a former Bayern youth player, is one to watch out for after his hat-trick in a remarkable 4-3 defeat to Sport-Club Freiburg on the last matchday of 2025.
The first Saturday evening clash of the new year is also an enticing one as last season’s runners-up Bayer 04 Leverkusen host reigning DFB Cup holders VfB Stuttgart. The two sides are locked in the emerging battle for top-four spots, with just three points between Leverkusen (currently third) and Stuttgart (sixth).
Fourth-placed RB Leipzig and fifth-placed TSG Hoffenheim both resume their campaigns with away encounters on Saturday afternoon at FC St. Pauli and SV Werder Bremen, respectively.
There will be next to no time after the weekend’s fixtures before the action continues with a round of midweek ties ahead for Matchday 17. Stuttgart host Frankfurt and Hamburger SV welcome Leverkusen on Tuesday, while Bayern face a difficult away trip to 1. FC Köln next Wednesday as the 2025-26 season officially reaches the halfway point.