It was one of those games where the draw felt like a win at the end: At the weekend, SC Freiburg played Borussia Dortmund with ten men for 60 minutes but were able to secure a 0-0 draw against BVB, who have made an excellent start to the season, with a battling defensive performance. That earned SCF a second point in the current campaign following a goalless draw against Eintracht Frankfurt in the opener and a 4-1 defeat away to RB Leipzig. The club from the Breisgau now occupy a position in the league that represents a minimum target for the season – fifteenth and above the drop zone.
Fate again raised its head in the Black Forest. The fate of a feeder club that affects Freiburg nearly every summer. Toprak, Cissé, Kruse and Ginter – they all emerged in the modest surroundings of the Breisgau before moving on to bigger clubs to advance their careers. This year, SCF had to cope with the departure of two key players from last season in Maximilian Philipp (Borussia Dortmund) and Vincenzo Grifo (Borussia Mönchengladbach). Coach Christian Streich, an institution in Freiburg and the world of German football, again confronts the challenge of ensuring his young team can avoid relegation with the modest financial means available and bring through the next talented youngsters to attract vital transfer funds. He has often succeeded in that area in the past.
It will be hard to compensate for the departure of Philipp and Grifo, who were directly involved in 26 of 42 Freiburg's Bundesliga goals last term. That is not only a loss of fire power up front but also a sharp reduction in the quality of the squad. In addition, the defence has to settle down around the two, highly talented but inexperienced central defenders Marc-Oliver Kempf and Caglar Söyüncü – last term Freiburg had the fourth-worst defence in the Bundesliga with 60 goals conceded. Kempf is unlikely to play against the Werkself due to an injury and Streich will also have to replace the forward Yoric Ravet who was shown a red card in the Dortmund game.
Last season, the world of German football was able to see what Freiburg are capable of achieving with their settled club environment and sustainable transfer strategy when the team qualified for Europe for the fourth time in the club's history ahead of a host of clubs with bigger reputations. The desire to establish the club in the Bundesliga over the long term is evident in the recent plans to build a new stadium. The new ground is due to have a capacity of 35,000 fans and should be ready to occupy by 2020 at the latest.
Even though Freiburg have seen the rewards for last season's outstanding campaign disappear with defeat in the Europa League play-off against Slovenian club NK Domzale that could be a blessing in disguise in terms of ambitions in the Bundesliga. Without the burden of additional games for a thin squad, Streich is once again capable of keeping his team in the top flight even if climbing to the heady heights of the Bundesliga appears rather unlikely this time round.
After eight years in the youth set-up at Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Benjamin Adam is leaving the club. The 35-year-old, who most recently coached the Leverkusen U17s, will take charge of the Hansa Rostock U19 team next season.
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There was a successful end to the women's internationals with Werkself players Carlotta Wamser and Cornelia Kramer qualifying for the 2027 World Cup finals in Brazil. A third Leverkusen player is still in with a chance of joining them. The Germany U23 players also experienced success in their last two international friendlies of the season.
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Traveling to North America for the World Cup this summer to see your favorite Bayer 04 players? Here’s a quick cheat sheet with thumbnail portraits and insider tips for each city from a local expert, so you can make the most of your visit and activities beyond the game!
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A fresh look for the BayArena: The Bayer 04 stadium will have new seating in the form of folding seats for the 2026/27 campaign that will ensure significantly improved seating comfort and simplified movement within the rows of seats. As part of routine replacement after 17 years, fans of the Werkself were able to purchase the existing seats, used to witness the first German league title in the club's history. In addition, a large proportion of the seats will be donated to charitable projects, primarily in the local region. Bayer 04 fans can look forward to new, functional folding seats for the season opener at the beginning of August - still in the club colours of black and red, of course. A glimpse at the BayArena during the refurbishment.
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