Talking Fussball

With so many aspirants for promotion to the top flight, you'd think at least one would have sewn it up by now. Not so - no fewer than six clubs can still dream of going up (or at least making it into the play-off), and none can yet rest easy, as all their good work could come to naught with a bad run over the final three rounds. (A nice change from the state of affairs in the 1. Bundesliga, no?) M...

Asking for a friend - is it normal for one team to win the league ten years in a row? Whichever way you might answer that question, it's the reality we Bundesliga fans live in, now that FC Bayern München claimed all three points in a comparatively limp Klassiker on Match Day 31. Matt rounds up Lewis Ambrose for a chat about the Bavarians' pathological dominance, some real movement in the relegatio...

The Bundesliga is winding down with just four games to go, and our pundits are ready to give it their all, week by week until the bitter end. Speaking of endings, JT and Flo have an announcement about the future of the show. Listen in for that, and for all the tips you need to get ready for MD31. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For most of the season, Nik's Werder Bremen, Jasmine's SV Darmstadt, and Maik's St. Pauli have been trading places, week by week, at the top of the 2. Bundesliga table. My how times have changed. On this edition of Aufstieg, Nik and Jasmine break down FC Schalke 04's surge to the top of the table, the 3. Liga promotion race, and the continued controversy surrounding Monday fixtures. Learn more abo...

There's not much of title race on, but just below the top two things get very interesting. RB Leipzig, SC Freiburg, 1. FC Union Berlin and 1. FC Köln all picked up wins on the weekend, and depending on results over the final four weeks, each team from third to eighth could find itself in Europe next season - or out in the cold. Meanwhile, FC Bayern München have all but won the league and are nonet...

If you've watched German football over the past decade and a half, you'll know that FC Schalke 04 has long maintained a close relationship to Gazprom, the Russian natural gas giant. But ever since Vladimir Putin sent the Russian army on a brutal campaign to invade Ukraine, many in Germany were forced to reckon with their business ties to Russia...and came to the conclusion that those ties needed t...

1. FC Union Berlin made it three for three in the German capital's Stadtmeisterschaft this past weekend, giving everyone another plum opportunity to gawk at the mess Hertha BSC has become. After an extra day to survey the wreckage, a crestfallen Matt hauls in Kit Holden for their traditional tête-à-tête. They talk about the derby, Union's chances of heading back to Europe next season in a crowded...

As you may have heard (on Monday's TF Direct among other places), FC Bayern München didn't quite manage to stick to just 11 men on the pitch at one time this past weekend. A few choice comments this week from Julian Nagelsmann that sounded like blame-shifting meant JT and Flo couldn't resist going in on the coach of the Rekordmeister. They'll let you know if that brouhaha might have any fantasy im...

Could FC Schalke 04 actually be getting itself back on on track? It may be too soon to tell, but the Royal Blues' three-game win streak has put them back in the thick of the race for promotion back to the top flight. Nik and the gang talk through Schalke's chances for a speedy return, St. Pauli fans' chilly reception by police in Rostock, Türkgücü's financial flameout, and much more. Learn more ab...

If there was much doubt that RB Leipzig are the form team in the Bundesliga, they erased that on Match Day 28, putting four past Borussia Dortmund in the Schwarzgelben's big full-house return to the Westfalenstadion. Matt gets hold of Terry Duffelen to mull over the consequences of that bog result, engage in some mutual head-scratching over Bayern's failed substitution in Freiburg, and look over t...

The Bundesliga is entering the final stretch - just seven games to go. Most importantly for all the #BLFantasy managers out there, this window is the last one to offer UNLIMITED TRANSFERS. There might not be whole lot of season left to show off your re-vamped team, but that's no reason not to re-vamp it in the first place. Listen in as JT and Flo let you know all the best bets for big points in th...

It came as something of a shock when Hertha BSC named Felix Magath as their interim coach last week. The coaching icon who's been out of the German top flight for a decade may be in the capital on a limited appointment, but the announcement rocked the German football world, crashing web sites and attracting extraordinary media attention. So what makes the man they call 'Quälix' such a big deal? To...

Plenty of the Bundesliga's biggest clubs have felt that sinking feeling at one time or another this season - none more so than VfB Stuttgart and Hertha BSC. There are reasons to think that might change after both were winners on Match Day 27. Listen in as Matt talks with The Athletic's Chris McCarthy about Hertha's coaching change, Stuttgart's radical embrace of continuity, BVB's latest disappoint...

The twists and turns continue in the 2. Bundesliga promotion race, as the candidates swapped spots at the top with just eight games left. The Coronavirus pandemic came roaring back this week, throwing a worrying wild card in the to mix as well. Listen in as Nik, Maik and Jasmine fill you in on all the latest from the second tier and below... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.c...

No TF Direct this week - we've got something completely different, and completely urgent to current events. Nik speaks with Eastern European football expert James Montague about Ukrainian ultras - how they've been deeply enmeshed in the country's conflict with Russia for years, and what they're up to as Russia's assault intensifies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoi...

After a week off in light of the desperate situation in Ukraine, JT and Flo are back in the saddle to help you take your mind off of it. Listen in to find out: which elite striker to keep (and which to sell), whether Florian Wirtz is a must-have this weekend, which English translation of Anschlusstreffer hits the nail on the head and much more... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoi...

We're going deeper into German football history and culture studies this week - that means it's time to meet a few more clubs from the country's third-tier division for the western part of the country, the Regionalliga West. What clubs will you meet via Nik, Jasmine and Maik? Not one but two Rot-Weisses, a near-Borussia and one from the city with the most fascinating railway in Germany. Learn more...

If you're a club in the bottom six places after 25 games, it's time to face it: the remainder of the season is about survival - no more, no less. This past weekend, a couple of clubs seemed to get the picture...while quite a few others did not. Matt sat down with Eva-Lotta Bohle of the 2. Bundesliga Podcast to get her thoughts on Arminia Bielefeld's recent defensive troubles, Borussia Mönchengladb...

Plenty of news from the 2. Liga. Werder Bremen prevailed over Hamburger Sport-Verein in an action packed Nordderby, Schalke realized after all these years that their main sponsor had some dodgy connections, and a return to form from SV Darmstadt in a win in Dresden. Speaking of Darmstadt, their assistant coach Maximilian Hahn joins the pod for some on-the-ground insight. Listen in as he talks all...

Now are you ready to crown FC Bayern München Bundesliga champions-in-waiting? After a limp draw for Borussia Dortmund at FC Augsburg on Match Day 24, the Rekordmeister's win at Eintracht Frankfurt restored their lead to eight points and may just end talk of a title race once and for all this season. But there's plenty more to talk about, like how to interpret Eintracht's enigmatic up-and-down seas...

Match days come and march days go, but this one's special...at least for JT and Flo. As residents of Cologne (Germany's Karneval capital), our fantasy fellas had to squeeze in this episode prior to joining the days-long festivities. They've got all the advice that's fit to print, including the best way to replace the injured Patrik Schick, which injured players you shouldn't get rid of, and more.....

This one's for the crate-diggers, truffle-hounds, and off-the-beaten-path walkers of football fandom. Nik, Maik, and Jasmine take you down to one of Germany's fourth-tier leagues, the Regionalliga West. That might sound a bit obscure, but today's Regionalliga West is chock full of clubs with fascinating histories, which the gang are ready to tell you about: KFC Uerdingen, Fortuna Köln, Alemannia A...

Germany's big three - FC Bayern München, Borussia Dortmund, and RB Leipzig - all ran riot on Match Day 23, collectively outscoring their (admittedly lowly) opponents 16-2. It was a big about-face from the three teams' patchy performances in Europe at midweek. Matt gets hold of goal.com's Ronan Murphy for a chat about the teams on either end of those big blowouts, about the probabilities of scissor...

After a two-week layoff from match day podding, James Thorogood and Flo Reinecke are back in the saddle. That means a whole slew of your questions about line-ups, transfers, and more will be answered at length. Lots of high-scoring potential out there this week, so make sure to listen in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Just as in the Bundesliga, Germany's second tier is heading into the final third of the season and the time has come to take a closer look at the promotion prospects of the various sides hoping to make the jump to the top flight. At least six sides have a legitimate chance at promotion, so Nik, Jasmine and Maik have their hands full figuring out which are the best bets. Thy also tell us how 3. Lig...