The new Bundesliga fixture list will be out on Friday 27th June when fans and teams the length and breadth of Germany will discover who they will meet on Matchday One on the weekend of 23rd August.
But as tradition dictates, the reigning champions will kick off the new campaign on Friday night the 22nd, and on Thursday it was revealed that Vincent Kompany’s Bayern Munich would host Red Bull Leipzig in a mouth-watering opener. The two teams will renew a rivalry that has grown in recent seasons since Die Roten Bullen took their place among the elite of German football in 2016.
My SBOTOP pal, James, has already nailed his colours to the mast, predicting back to back titles for Kompany’s men and the early Bundesliga 2025 betting odds certainly back him up, pricing the Bavarians at 1.18 to retain their crown.
And, as Jordan writes, their closest rivals Bayer Leverkusen are in for a major rebuild, following the departure of manager Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid and the transfer of star forward Florian Wirtz in a £116m move to Premier League champions Liverpool, not to mention the switch of Bayer’s defensive rock, Jonathan Tah, to Bayern Munich.
The Bavarians regained their long held title last year, after Leverkusen had stormed to the 2023/24 Bundesliga, losing just two league matches all season. But Kompany is under pressure nevertheless after his side missed out badly in the Champions League and the DFB Pokal. Meanwhile Leipzig had a shocker by their recent standards, finishing in seventh position in the Bundesliga and missing out on European competition altogether. And this week the club announced the appointment of master tactician Ole Werner as their new head coach. The 37 year old played his football at Holstein Kiel but ended his career at the tender age of 22, and has since become a highly respected coach, firstly at Kiel and latterly at Werder Bremen where he has coached for the last four seasons, winning promotion back to the Bundesliga and progressing year on year, finishing 13th, ninth and then eighth, just a place behind his new megabucks employers.
Werner inherits a talented squad including Lois Openda and Xavi Simons, and it will be fascinating to see how the new coach performs under the heat of the spotlight in Leipzig.
Newcastle weigh up move for Freiburg star
In other Bundesliga 2025 news, Premier League big spenders Newcastle United are reported to be tracking SC Freiburg youngster Merlin Rohl. The 22 year old had a breakout campaign in 2023/24 and has made a further 20 appearances in all competitions this season. He still has plenty of room to improve but the Magpies will face competition for Rohl’s sevices, with Premier League rivals Everton and Crystal Palace also in the hunt for the attacking midfielder.
One player who may be heading the other way, from England to Germany, is Manchester City’s academy star Callum Doyle. The 21 year old centre back has been the subject of a £6.5m bid from TSH Hoffenheim which the Sky Blues have knocked back. But the Bundesliga club will not be too far off the mark for the player who has already made 158 appearances out on loan, last season with Norwich City. It seems he is not in Pep Guardiola’s plans and the young defender would be a good fit for Hoffenheim.
BVB and Bayern progress in the US
Over at the Club world cup both Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund have progressed to the Round of 16 and are still in the hunt for the generous prize money. But Die Schwarzgelben will be the happier of the two having won their group, to earn themselves a potentially gentler route through the knockouts. New recruit Jobe Bellingham has followed in his brother Jude’s footsteps to Dortmund and he made a clever assist for Daniel Svesson in the only goal of their game against Ulsan HD on Wednesday. That victory won top spot in Group F after Fluminese drew 0-0 with Mamelodi Sundowns. BVB will meet Monterrey in the Round of 16.
Bayern Munich finished second in their section after Kompany made wholesale changes in their final Group C game against Benfica, only to lose 1-0, their first ever defeat to a Portuguese side, and now they will face a stiff test against Brazilian side Flamengo in the Round of 16 on June 29th. Midfield ace Joshua Kimmich came to his manager’s defence after the game, saying: “We’ve only had two games. It was also about having a good squad and wanting to involve all players. The coach deliberately wants to rely on different players – and that’s very, very right.”
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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