By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
This weekend Bundesliga matches kicks off with two in-form sides meeting in Friday’s curtain-raiser as high- flying Borussia Dortmund host resurgent 1. FSV Mainz 05 at Signal Iduna Park.
Dortmund picked up crucial victory against VfL Wolfsburg last time out courtesy of Serhou Guirassy’s late strike to remain within six points of FC Bayern München at the top of the table. The result means they are unbeaten in their past 14 league games, prevailing in each of their previous five.
Mainz, meanwhile, moved out of the relegation play-o place by bettering FC Augsburg last weekend. As such, they have lost just one of their eight Bundesliga matches under head coach Urs Fischer, climbing up to 14th.
On Saturday, Bayern will continue their own title push when they travel to SV Werder Bremen. The Bavarians returned to winning ways against TSG Hoffenheim last time out after two games without a victory as Luis Díaz scored his first hat-trick for the club.
In SV Werder, they face an out t who are winless in 11 league matches – a run new head coach Daniel Thioune will be desperate to end as he makes his home bow in charge, following last week’s debut loss at SC Freiburg.
Albert Riera will also make his home debut at the helm of Eintracht Frankfurt at the same time. After a 1-1 draw at 1. FC Union Berlin in his rst game, he will be eager to clinch the Eagles’ first competitive win of 2026 as he steps out at Deutsche Bank Park against Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Gladbach also claimed a 1-1 draw last time out at home to Bayer 04 Leverkusen. That result ended the Werkself’s four-game winning run in all competitions, but they remain in the hunt for a UEFA Champions League quali cation spot as they host FC St. Pauli. The Kiezkicker, on the other hand, secured a vital triumph over VfB Stuttgart in their attempts to beat the drop.
Stuttgart will aim to bounce back from that setback when they welcome 1. FC Köln to the MHP Arena in the Topspiel. The loss to St. Pauli was their first in 12 matches, but the Billy Goats were also defeated by RB Leipzig, staying 10th.
Looking to build on that win in Cologne, Leipzig will face Wolfsburg in the weekend’s final fixture on Sunday evening. The two sides have contrasting objectives this term, with Ole Werner’s team searching for a top-four spot and the Wolves aiming to move away from the bottom three.
In their quest to recover from the heavy loss against Bayern – only their second in 15 games – TSG Hoffenheim are at home against SC Freiburg on Saturday. The visitors in this regional encounter are six points outside the top six but this week advanced to the semi finals of the DFB-Pokal.
Fresh o the back of their rst away win of the season at 1. FC Heidenheim 1846, Hamburger SV go up against Union Berlin at the Volksparkstadion, also on Saturday. That result moved them up to 11th with a game in hand over Union – who are without a win in six matches – two places and three points above them.
Elsewhere, Heidenheim make the trip to Augsburg on Sunday. Frank Schmidt’s men stayed bottom of the table after coming out second best against Hamburg, and Die Fuggerstädter, who have lost just one of their past five, will provide another di cult task in front of their own supporters.