The 2025/26 Bundesliga season review is upon us, as on Monday, May 25, SC Paderborn defeated VfL Wolfsburg 2-1 on aggregate in extra-time of the Bundesliga promotion/relegation play-off to end the season.
It is now appropriate to dedicate a piece to the 2025/26 Bundesliga season review.
2025/26 Bundesliga Season Review: The Firing Of Coaches Reached Extreme Levels This Year
As we noted in the mid-season review of the German top-flight, there were many firings of coaches in the first half of the season. The Bundesliga was true to its reputation as a league with low job security for coaches, and this trend continued into the New Year.
While we won’t go back over all of the firings and hirings of coaches throughout the first half of the season, it is worth mentioning in this Bundesliga season review that Erik ten Hag was the chosen man to replace Xabi Alonso at Bayer Leverkusen, only to be sacked after two rounds of play.
Kasper Hjulmand was his successor, and while the Dane was able to stabilise die Werkself, he ultimately was unable to fulfil the minimal season requirement of UEFA Champions League qualification. However, under the circumstances of the extreme turnover within the squad, it was always going to be difficult.
In the second half of the season, Eintracht Frankfurt let go of Dino Toppmöller, ultimately replacing him with Albert Riera, only to fire the Spaniard after the season as well.
Meanwhile, at Werder Bremen, Daniel Thioune replaced Horst Steffen and helped them avoid the drop.
Dieter Hecking was not so lucky at Wolfsburg, as he became the third coach of the Wolves this season, but was unable to prevent the catastrophe of relegation for such a huge club after he replaced Daniel Bauer.
The other two coaching changes we should mention in this Bundesliga season review are René Wagner replacing Lucas Kwasniok at 1. FC Köln and Marie-Louise Eta, who replaced Steffen Baumgart to become the first-ever female coach in the German top-flight at Union Berlin.
The latter appointment was on a caretaker basis, and Eta will take over the club’s ambitious women’s side from next season.
2025/26 Bundesliga Season Review: The Important Decisions In The League
Many Bundesliga decisions were outstanding towards the end of the season. That was less so evident in the title race, as Bayern Munich took on the role of league leaders on Matchday 1 and never relinquished it since.
Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig and VfB Stuttgart occupied the rest of the top four, allowing for UEFA Champions League qualification; meanwhile, TSG Hoffenheim and the above-mentioned Leverkusen took the UEFA Europa League places, and SC Freiburg occupied the UEFA Conference League qualifying place.
Finally, Wolfsburg, FC St. Pauli and 1. FC Heidenheim were relegated and will be replaced in the Bundesliga next season by Schalke 04, SV Elversberg and Paderborn.
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2025/26 Bundesliga Season Review: Surprise Teams
This Bundesliga season review would not be complete without mentioning this term’s over-and underachievers.
Hoffenheim were in the relegation battle a year ago, but this season they managed to qualify for Europe again, and they even flirted with a UEFA Champions League spot until the last match of the season.
While it was clear that their coach, Christian Ilzer, who had previously ended RB Salzburg’s total dominance in Austria, would likely need one summer transfer window to get the kind of players that suit his style of football, this kind of total turnaround is still truly amazing, especially considering the turmoil at the club.
Stuttgart are another side that overperforms year after year under Sebastian Hoeneß. He joined them in the spring of 2023, barely saving them from relegation, before qualifying them for the UEFA Champions League in two of the following three seasons.
As far as negative surprises go in this Bundesliga season review, Wolfsburg’s relegation cannot be categorised as anything less than a full-blown catastrophe.
They built a squad that was supposed to qualify for Europe with the likes of Christian Eriksen, and now, they find themselves back in the second division for the first time since the summer of 1997.
Another underachieving team were Frankfurt, as they were put together to be competitive in the UEFA Champions League and domestically, only to crash and burn in the league phase in Europe and miss out on Europe entirely.
It was an action-packed season in Germany that will leave fans coming back for more, as a long summer awaits before the return of domestic football once more.
Main Photo
Credit: IMAGO / Ulrich Hufnagel
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