TAKTIK

Harry Kane became the fastest player in Bundesliga history to a century of league goals, and did it inside a 7-0 demolition of Union Berlin that also featured Michael Olise's first career hat-trick. That alone would headline most weeks. Instead it has to share the podium with Borussia Dortmund, who ground out a 1-0 win at Stuttgart to stay perfect through four games and go top of the table, an...

SC Freiburg are top of the Bundesliga after three matchdays. Say that sentence out loud a few times, because it doesn't get less strange. A 5-0 demolition of ten-man Gladbach puts them there on goal difference over an equally perfect Dortmund, who needed goals from Fabio Silva and a Felix Nmecha brace to see off Paderborn. Bayern Munich, meanwhile, had to go to a town of 13,000 people and grin...

Bayern's unbeaten start to the season continues, but their 59-match scoring streak doesn't — held to a goalless draw by newly promoted Schalke at the Veltins-Arena, in front of a crowd that celebrated the point like a trophy. Jamal Musiala made his first appearance back from the neurological condition that caused him to collapse twice in preseason — Kompany confirmed it's seizure-relat...

Matchday 1 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga is done. Bayern beat Stuttgart 5-1 — business as usual, with Ismael Saibari setting up two goals off the bench on his debut, and Musiala still absent while his return is carefully managed following two preseason collapses linked to a neurological issue, not just heat exhaustion as first reported. The real story: SV Elversberg, newly promoted, population 13,000,...

SSV Jeddeloh II, a fourth-tier Regionalliga club, beat 1. FC Heidenheim 5-2 in the DFB-Pokal first round — one of the great cup shocks in recent German football. Heidenheim's coach Frank Schmidt was suspended and watched from the stands as his team missed a penalty and conceded five. Elsewhere in the Pokal: Frankfurt 11-0 St. Tönis, comfortable wins for Stuttgart, Leverkusen, Hoffenheim, and L...

Two weeks until Bundesliga kickoff — Bayern vs VfB Stuttgart at the Allianz on Friday August 28. Full season preview. Musiala scare: fainted from heat exhaustion during Bayern's friendly against Leipzig (30°C+ in Munich, dizziness and circulatory problems). Bayern also lost Laimer and Kim in the same match — three first-teamers down before the Supercup. Schalke 0-3 Real Madrid at the Veltins-A...

Seven big managerial changes this summer. Andrea Pirlo just added to the list — Italy appointed him Friday after Guardiola and Ancelotti both said no. Plus Jürgen Klopp at Germany, Zinedine Zidane at France, José Mourinho back at Real Madrid, Rúben Amorim at AC Milan, Massimiliano Allegri at Napoli, Enzo Maresca at Man City. Half of them national team jobs. All three of Europe's biggest footba...

Spain are World Champions for the second time in their history. Ferran Torres scored a 106th-minute extra-time winner against 10-man Argentina after Enzo Fernández was sent off in stoppage time for a reckless tackle on Pau Cubarsí. Emiliano Martínez was heroic — 11 interventions — but couldn't stop Argentina's third World Cup title bid. Spain finish the tournament with 7 clean sheets (a re...

The 2026 World Cup semi-finals are set. For the first time in World Cup history, the four semi-finalists are the top four ranked teams in the world. Spain vs France in Dallas on Tuesday. England vs Argentina in Atlanta on Wednesday. Coach's-eye segment on the biggest statistical trend of the tournament: every team that has shot first in a World Cup penalty shootout at this tournament has lost....

Jürgen Klopp is the new Germany head coach. Officially agreed Sunday, formal announcement in two weeks. Coach's-eye on what he inherits, what he changes, why the Wirtz reunion matters, and why it might still not be enough. Plus: the DFB paid Nagelsmann a hefty severance to walk away — that's how badly they wanted him gone. The USA-Trump-FIFA saga: Balogun red-carded in the Round of 32 vs B...

Germany are out of the World Cup. Round of 32. Penalties. To Paraguay. The four-time champions just lost their first ever WC penalty shootout. To the 34th-ranked team in the world. The Tah header in extra time that was disallowed should have stood — ESPN's VAR analyst confirmed it. Schmeichel, Shearer, Friedel all said the same. Plus the Woltemade handball claim. Plus the disallowed penalty in...

Germany are through to the knockouts. Nagelsmann made a triple sub at the 60th, Deniz Undav scored twice, and Ivory Coast were beaten 2-1. Real coach's-eye lesson: when your starters aren't doing it, change the structure, don't wait. Most managers don't make that call. Nagelsmann did. Schlotterbeck off at halftime, replaced by Rüdiger, suspected ligament damage — Germany may be dow...

Germany 7-1 Curaçao. Big debut. Ivory Coast beat Ecuador in the 90th minute and Group E is still interesting. Neuer started. Calf held. Wirtz was excellent. Real test is Saturday in Toronto. Other World Cup notes: Brazil were rescued by Vinícius against Morocco and look like a team still adjusting to Ancelotti. Sweden five-one'd Tunisia. Japan held the Netherlands 2-2 with an 89th-minute equal...

Germany 2-1 USA in Chicago. Havertz in the 2nd, Sané with the winner in the 57th, and an Antonee Robinson goal in between that you should look up. Germany got the win but the Neuer-Baumann question is still unresolved seven days from the opener. Lennart Karl is out of the squad with a thigh injury. Coach's-eye honest take: Germany are about 10% to win this tournament, and that's being gene...

We're back after a week off. The football season ended without us — Bayern won the DFB-Pokal 3-0 over Stuttgart with a Kane hat-trick, PSG won the Champions League final on penalties against Arsenal, and Wolfsburg lost the relegation playoff to Paderborn. Three new clubs in the Bundesliga next season, including Elversberg, who play in a town of 12,800 people. The actual story of the past two w...

Bayern equalized in the 94th. They were dead in the 3rd. Dembélé scored before the Allianz crowd sat down, then PSG defended for 87 minutes — and we have a coach's-eye correction to do about last week's body-language read, because Luis Enrique just showed how a real coach manages his team's psychology at this level. Plus: Bundesliga matchday 33 produced relegation chaos - Heidenheim cl...

PSG 5, Bayern 4. Champions League semi-final, first leg, Paris. Nine goals. The match of the year. And somehow Bayern came out of it looking better than the team that won. That's a body-language story and we're going to do it properly. Plus: Bayern drew 3-3 at home to 18th-place Heidenheim because Kompany was already mentally on Wednesday. Leverkusen destroyed Leipzig 4-1 - apparently they...

Bayern were 3-0 down at Mainz on Saturday. So Kompany brought on a bench that costs more than Mainz's entire annual revenue. Bayern won 4-3. This is what Bundesliga football looks like in 2026 and we're going to talk about it. Also this week: Bayern in the DFB-Pokal final, ending the great six-year drought of mostly winning the Pokal. Eta still being asked the wrong question. Jokic finally...

Bayern win the Bundesliga for the 35th time — with four games to spare. The real story is one club down the table: RB Leipzig. Hated by half of Germany, run better than most of the clubs that hate them. A coach's-eye case for separating what you dislike about a club from what it's doing right. Plus: Union Berlin hire Marie-Louise Eta, the first woman ever to head-coach a men's team in...

Welcome to TAKTIK — a coach's-eye look at sport, from Bangkok. This week: Bayern beat Real Madrid 4-3 to reach the Champions League semi-final. Güler scored two bangers, then got ushered out of the dressing room before Pérez came down to yell. We look at what that tells us about coaching — and why Kompany's Bayern is suddenly likeable. Plus: ONE Championship sues Rodtang in three countries...