Kompany won the double in his debut season. Harry Kane scored 33 league goals. Michael Olise is now the most valuable player in the entire league at €170 million. The front four of Kane-Musiala-Olise-Sané is terrifying on paper, and the bench includes Mathys Tel, Bryan Zaragoza, João Palhinha, and Alphonso Davies.
Summer business: Bayern dropped €103 million on arrivals. Nathaniel Brown (€50m from Frankfurt) solves the left-back problem permanently. Ismael Saibari (€50m from PSV) adds midfield creativity behind Musiala. They also cleared deadwood — Goretzka and Guerreiro left on frees, Nübel shipped to Beşiktaş.
The only question: can Kompany keep everyone happy? This squad has 18-20 players who'd start for any other Bundesliga club. Managing egos when you're winning is easy. Managing them through a Champions League knockout exit is the test.
Dortmund finished second last season. Not nearly close enough — Bayern clinched the title with three games to spare. That's the problem. Dortmund keep finishing in Champions League spots and that's supposed to be success, but the fans are tired of "competitive." They want a title.
The summer window didn't help. Karim Adeyemi left for Barcelona (€22m). Niklas Süle and Julian Brandt both walked on frees. The arrivals are all teenagers — Joane Gadou (19, Salzburg), Kauã Prates (18, Cruzeiro), Justin Lerma (18, Independiente del Valle). These are investments, not immediate solutions. The net spend was +€5m. A Champions League club making a profit in the transfer window while Bayern spends €103m? That math doesn't work.
Guirassy (31 goals in 2025-26) is the best pure striker in the league not named Harry Kane. Malen on his day is unplayable. But the defense has holes and the midfield lacks a true controller since Bellingham left two summers ago. Signal Iduna Park will be loud. Loud isn't enough.
Leverkusen are no longer a "nice story." They're a fixture in the top three and their recruitment structure is the envy of the league. Wirtz signed a long-term deal. Boniface is a top-five striker in Europe when fit — the problem is "when fit" doing a lot of work there.
The Alonso departure was handled better than anyone expected. The new manager (reported to be a young Spanish coach from the Alonso tree) inherited a squad that already knows how to win. Summer signing Afonso Moreira is exactly the profile Leverkusen love: 21, explosive, undervalued in Ligue 1, ready to double his market value in 18 months.
Moreira, Kennet Eichhorn (€9m from Hertha, 16 years old — yes, sixteen), and Kerim Alajbegović (€8m from Salzburg) continue the buy-low-develop-sell-high pipeline. The question is whether the squad can balance Champions League knockout football with a domestic title push. Alonso couldn't quite do it. Can the new guy?
Lost Loïs Openda to Juventus for €42.75m. That's a massive hole — Openda scored 28 goals across all competitions in 2025-26 and his pace stretched defenses in ways nobody else on the roster can replicate. The replacements: Maxime Estève (€25m from Burnley, solid but not spectacular) and Rocco Reitz (€20m from Gladbach, a glue guy not a game-breaker).
The attack now runs through Xavi Simons and Benjamin Šeško. Both are 23, both have world-class ceilings, both need to take the leap from "exciting prospect" to "week-in-week-out difference maker." The squad is young — average age 22.1 — and that cuts both ways. The energy is unmatched. The consistency is not.
Stuttgart made the Champions League last season. Let that sink in. This is a club that was in the relegation playoff three years ago. Sebastian Hoeneß has built something real — high-pressing, fearless, fun to watch. Bilal El Khannouss (€15m, loan turned permanent) is the creative hub. Deniz Undav scored 22 goals. The question: can they do it again with Champions League football draining the squad?
They spent €16.2m and brought in exactly zero from sales. That's ambition, not accounting. Grischa Prömel arrives on a free from Hoffenheim to add veteran midfield steel. But the squad is thin — 22.4 average age means you're relying on kids when injuries hit, and injuries always hit when you're playing twice a week.
Frankfurt lost Nathaniel Brown to Bayern (€50m). That stings — Brown was homegrown, the left side of the attack ran through him, and the €50m fee doesn't replace the production. But Frankfurt always reload. Omar Marmoush stayed. Hugo Ekitike is developing into a legitimate number nine. The Europa League run to the semis last season proved this team can compete on two fronts.
The midfield pairing of Ellyes Skhiri and Mario Götze (still going at 34) is crafty enough to control games against anyone outside the top three. The defense is the concern — no Brown means a reshuffled backline with a new left-back who won't have the same chemistry.
They're back. One of the biggest clubs in German football history, back in the top flight after two seasons in the wilderness. The Veltins-Arena will be sold out 17 times. The away following will be the largest in the league. The passion will be off the charts.
The squad? Honestly, mid-table talent at best. Keke Topp up front, a midfield built around academy products, and a defense that got exposed several times in the 2.Bundesliga. But Schalke at home against anyone is worth 0.3 expected points that the talent sheet doesn't capture. The atmosphere in Gelsenkirchen makes good players better.
Survival is the goal. Schalke's last relegation in 2023 was traumatic — the club nearly went bankrupt. This return has to be sustainable. 14th would be a massive success.
The most active club in the transfer market. Nineteen arrivals, sixteen departures. Net profit of €11.5m — classic Hoffenheim. They sold Bazoumana Touré to Newcastle for €50m (a 20-year-old winger — the development pipeline is working), then reinvested in more teenagers: Nathan De Cat (€20m from Anderlecht, 17), Mats Rots (€12m from Twente, 20), Cajetan Lenz (€10m from Bochum, 20).
The squad is a revolving door of talent. Some years it clicks (2024-25, Europa League). Some years it doesn't. With this much turnover, projecting anything is foolish. But Hoffenheim's scouting department has earned the benefit of the doubt. Patrick Wimmer (€10m from Wolfsburg) is a low-risk bet — proven Bundesliga winger who needed a change of scenery.
Christian Streich retired. Let that breathe for a second. Twenty-nine years at the club, thirteen as head coach, the soul of Freiburg football. The new manager has an impossible job — follow a legend at a club where stability is the entire identity.
The squad is classic Freiburg: well-coached, greater than the sum of its parts, nobody you'd call a superstar. Michael Gregoritsch scores 10-12 every season. Ritsu Doan creates chaos from the right. The system works. But without Streich on the touchline, does the magic fade? Every Freiburg fan is asking the same question and nobody knows the answer.
Lost Rocco Reitz to Leipzig (€20m). That hurts — Reitz was a homegrown midfielder who bled Gladbach. The fee is good money but replacing the heart of your midfield is a chemistry problem, not a financial one. Alassane Pléa and Tim Kleindienst provide enough goals to stay clear of trouble, but "staying clear of trouble" isn't what Gladbach fans pay for.
Lost Patrick Wimmer to Hoffenheim. Signed nobody of note. Wolfsburg's squad is fine — Jonas Wind scores goals, the defense is organized, the football is boring. They'll finish somewhere between 8th and 13th and nobody will remember a single Wolfsburg match by April. The Volkswagen money keeps the lights on but the ambition isn't there.
Augsburg are the cockroaches of the Bundesliga — you can't kill them. Thirteenth consecutive season in the top flight. They signed Hennes Behrens from Hoffenheim (€3.5m) and will grind out enough 1-0 wins at home to survive. Ermedin Demirović is the talisman. The football is ugly. It works.
Marvin Ducksch had the season of his life in 2025-26 — 19 goals, dragged Bremen to safety by himself basically. He's 32 now. Can he do it again? The squad is thin and the defense leaks goals. Bremen's history deserves better than annual relegation battles but that's where they are.
The Champions League hangover was real. Union went from fourth in 2023-24 to thirteenth in 2024-25 to narrowly avoiding the playoff in 2025-26. The magic of the Köpenick years has faded. The squad is old. The style — direct, physical, set-piece dependent — has been figured out. Union need a rebuild, but they don't have the budget for one.
Bo Henriksen kept Mainz up last season through sheer force of personality. The football wasn't pretty but it was effective — high press, quick transitions, Jonny Burkardt running himself into the ground. Mainz always operate on the thinnest margins. One bad transfer window and they're in the bottom three. This window wasn't bad. It wasn't good either.
First Bundesliga season in club history. The smallest budget in the league by a significant margin. The stadium holds 15,000. Everything about this says "straight back down." But Kiel have been defying expectations for three years — promoted against all odds, then won the playoff against Hamburg in one of the most dramatic matches in German football history.
The squad is almost entirely unknown outside of northern Germany. That unfamiliarity is their biggest weapon early in the season. Teams won't know how to play them. By matchday 10, the league will have figured them out. Can they adapt?
The Millerntor in the Bundesliga. One of the best atmospheres in world football, a left-wing fan culture that's genuinely unique, and a squad that plays fearless, attacking football. St. Pauli's last Bundesliga appearance in 2024-25 lasted one season. They're better prepared this time.
Fabian Hürzeler's successor has maintained the identity — 3-4-3, high wingbacks, relentless pressing. The question is whether Bundesliga quality punishes that ambition. It probably does. But St. Pauli won't go down playing scared, and that matters.
1. Harry Kane's Contract. Kane turns 33 this month. His deal runs to 2027. He's won two Bundesliga titles and a Champions League. Does he sign an extension or take one last Premier League payday? The answer shapes Bayern's entire striker recruitment strategy for the next five years.
2. The Schalke Effect. The Veltins-Arena holds 62,000. It will be full for all 17 home matches. Schalke away is the hardest ticket in German football. The atmosphere alone is worth points. But the last time Schalke were promoted (2022), they went straight back down. This squad is better. Is it good enough?
3. Leverkusen's Post-Alonso Identity. Xabi Alonso left a system so well-drilled it practically runs itself. But systems decay without maintenance. The new manager inherits Champions League football, a top-three squad, and the weight of being the only club that's genuinely pushed Bayern in half a decade. No pressure.
4. Dortmund's Patience — With Themselves. Kovač is a good coach. But Dortmund fans expect titles, not "good." Adeyemi leaving for Barcelona while Bayern spend €100m+ sends a signal: Dortmund are a selling club, Bayern are a buying club. That dynamic hasn't changed in 15 years. When does the fanbase say enough?
5. The Promoted Three. Schalke, Kiel, St. Pauli. Three of the most distinct club identities in Germany, all in the top flight together. The atmospheres will be incredible. The football might not be. But the Bundesliga is better when these clubs are in it.