Talking Fussball

It's not every week we get a result as shocking as FC Bayern München's 4-2 loss to promoted side VfL Bochum. It's also not every week that a Bayern first-team regular decides to leave the club...for Borussia Dortmund. And it's certainly rare that the big conversation in German football all week has been about whether North American-style playoffs are a good idea for the Bundesliga. So there was pl...

In the face of all the commercialization baked into the modern professional game, it's easy to feel a bit romantic about amateur football. After all, that's where players play for the love of the game...right? Arne Steinberg, one of the producers behind a new documentary broadcast on German TV network ARD found otherwise. Listen in as he tells Nik Wildhagen about how Germany's non-professional div...

Yes I know you probably put away any notion of a title race weeks ago, but the math heading into round 21 allowed us to believe (just a little bit) otherwise. No more. Not after the Rekordmeister gutted out a win over a very game RB Leipzig, and certainly not after Dortmund ended up overmatched against Leverkusen in their own house. Listen in asa Matt gathers with Adam Khan to talk about big games...

Max Eberl, one of the towering figures of the Bundesliga over the last decade and a half, made a bold decision last week: he walked away. The Borussia Mönchengladbach sporting director said he was exhausted, and that he had lost any sense of joy in his work, so he called a halt to his tenure at the venerable club. His press conference was a tearful exit, not least because it was evident to all inv...

The 2. Bundesliga only just got back up and running about 10 days ago, but there's plenty to talk about already. St. Pauli's loss to their cross-town rivals handed Darmstadt the opening they needed to take over at the top, Fortuna Düsseldorf find themselves in major upheaval, and Werder Bremen kept on rising after a wild win. Listen in as Nik, Jasmine, and Maik walk you through these stories, alon...

So we had a number of late scratches from starting line-ups last week - not least the one involving a certain Frankfurt winger. JT and Flo talk through strategies on how to make the best of these bad situations, give you their player picks and answer a number of your listener questions. Listen in and be ready for Match Day 20! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With 19 match days in the books, Berlin's rising force from Köpenick are knocking on the door of the UEFA Champions League places - held back, in fact, by nothing more than goal difference at the moment. Considering they spend less than all but a handful of clubs in the division, how are they pulling it off? Listen in as Nik Wildhagen gets the inside dope from our resident tactical analyst Jasmine...

Plenty to talk about from the weekend - Erling Haaland did his best to match the goalscoring exploits of Thomas Meunier and fire Dortmund to victory against Freiburg, Union Berlin kept on burnishing their European bona fides ahead of a big DFB Pokal Berlin derby clash, and Robert Lewandowski made Bundesliga history for the umpteenth time. Matt rings up Terry Duffelen to make sense of it all. Learn...

Lots of tasty fixtures in store in Bundesliga this weekend - not least the Dortmund-Freiburg clash in store for Friday night, so Match Day 19 will be getting off with a bang! ...Speaking of fast starts, we got off to one this week with our recording time, so JT and Flo weren't able to answer any of the questions you sent via Twitter. Not to worry - they did their best mind-reading act and answered...

The Bundesliga has long been known as an incubator for young North American phenoms, but FC Augsburg's purchase of Ricardo Pepi is different. It's the biggest Bundesliga move of the January transfer window thus far, it's the second-biggest-ever sale price for a MLS player, and it's the most FC Augsburg has paid for any player ever. A lot riding on the El Paso native's shoulders...but at least one...

The Bundesliga rang in the new year with rollicking Rückrunde action on Match Day 18. Listen in as Matt Hermann speaks to Jasmine Baba about: How Bayern's Covid-struck skeleton crew proved they're just as good as the club's first choicers by dropping points to Gladbach, How Dortmund managed to prevail in another wild west shootout against Eintracht, and whether the jury on who's actually a Europea...

Welcome back! Have a nice couple of weeks? A happy new year? We hope you enjoyed your break, because the Official Fantasy Bundesliga is getting back to work. The big issue at the moment for fantasy managers? Making sure you make the most of the last unlimited transfer period until March. With perhaps the biggest match of the weekend up in the air due to a Covid outbreak, JT and Flo are taking a wa...

Ever wonder what's cooking over on our Patreon page? Well at the moment we've got a series that we're excited to share - one we hope will shed light on some sordid chapters in German football history. We call it SKANDAL! and we're sharing the first episode here on the man feed. This edition is about one of the biggest scandals of all - one that's had repercussions as recently as Der Klassiker in t...

As we move into the winter break, it's time to take stock of a very tight race for promotion in the 2. Bundesliga. FC St. Pauli and SV Darmstadt are riding high, but after that no fewer than SEVEN sides are within three points of the playoff spot. Nik, Maik and Jasmine step in to break it all down, as well as to discuss a game in the 3. Liga that was abandoned after racist chanting. So much going...

After a few flirtations with the idea of a title race earlier this season, the Bundesliga has decided to settle down with its long-term partner - FC Bayern München domination. The Rekordmeister are back to putting the hurt on opponents (VfB Stuttgart and VfL Wolfsburg most recently), and that's not something Borussia Dortmund - or anybody else for that matter - can really keep up with. Matt sits d...

If you take a look at the Bundesliga table, it's hard not to come to the conclusion that the most disappointing team of the season is Gladbach. The foals have been European challengers for much of the last decade, but this year under new coach Adi Hütter that reputation is very much under threat. Gladbach sit way down in 13th after 15 games, and a poor English week to end the first half of the sea...

Lots going on this time of year, eh? You might be busy with holiday parties, extra shifts, or final exams, but the Bundesliga is cramming in the matches...and this week's guest has been taking in as many as he can. Matthew Marshall is back on the pod, and he sits down with Matt to give his impressions of Frankfurt's blazing comeback, Hoffenheim's smash-and-grab in Freiburg, Cologne's surprising sl...

Bundesliga sides are about to sprint toward the Hinrunde finish, playing three games in the space of just over a week in an englische Woche. Lots of permutations to consider when there's three times the fixtures to contend with, but JT and Flo are here to help you sort out where the smart money is. As the Winterpause starts on 20 December, this will be the final TF Fantasy preview of 2021 - but lo...

Ah, the ups and downs of the 2. Bundesliga. Our own Nik Wildhagen's Werder Bremen side were on the ups under new coach Ole (or should we say Olé?) Werner, while Jasmine Baba's SV Darmstadt were definitely down this past weekend. As for Maik Krükemeier's beloved St. Pauli, they won - but then again, they do that just about all the time these days! Tune in for a full run-down of the main storylines...

Well that was a more than half decent Klassiker, wasn't it? Five goals, end-to-end action, goals from the star strikers...and a whole heal of controversy and acrimony. Matt sits down with Terry Duffelen - whose new BVB history book is out now - to talk about his team's defensive dunder-headed-ness, Bayern's penchant for a ruthless goal, and young Jude Bellingham's willingness to dredge up a refere...

The Bundesliga promotional machine has been in overdrive this week, pumping up fans around the world about Der Klassiker. With such a close race at the top at the moment, that's only natural - but there's a lot more afoot in the league, especially for Fantasy managers. Listen in as JT and Flo let you know which players to consider in each match, with a little extra on the big Dortmund-Bayern clash...

Yes it's called Der Klassiker, but will Saturday's game truly be a classic? Do FC Bayern München's recent less-than-imperious results mean there's a decent chance Borussia Dortmund can win and take over top spot? And how many (if any) fans will be in the Westfalenstadion this weekend to witness it? Nik Wildhagen and Jasmine Baba take a break from musing on the 2. Liga to stare deeply into the irre...

Dortmund shook off their Champions League flame-out with a big win in Wolfsburg; Bayern limped to a narrow home win over Bielefeld. The gap between the two sides is still just a point, and with a Erling Haaland back in action and scoring goals, something other than a Bayern runaway seems possible ahead of Der Klassiker. Matt gets hyped up with Adam Khan (breaking the lines, German Football Newslet...

If you've read anything about Germany this week, you'll know that Covid cases are skyrocketing. It stands to reason that the Bundesliga will have its share of cases, and indeed the likes of Joshua Kimmich, Thorgan Hazard and others will be sitting out Match Day 13. Listen in as JT and Flo walk you through how to replace some of those players, and tackle many, many other issues as well! Learn more...

We keep thinking we can get out of talking about Covid and get back into talking about football...but Markus Anfang keeps pulling us back in. The Bremen coach's apparent vax card flim-flam is the story that's swallowing German football at the moment, and as it's taking place in the corridors of a 2. Bundesliga side, it's right on the Aufstieg edition's turf. Listen in as Nik, Jasmin and Maik talk...