The 2025/26 Bundesliga Midseason Review

The German Bundesliga will resume on Friday, January 9, 2026, when Borussia Dortmund take the field against Eintracht Frankfurt in a top-four clash from last season. Before they do, it is a good time to recap what has happened in roughly the first half of the term so far. Here, we bring you our 2025/26 Bundesliga midseason review.

The Bundesliga Midseason Review: The Coaching Carousel Kept Turning

Gerardo Seoane (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Paul Simonis (VfL Wolfsburg), Sandro Wagner (FC Augsburg), and Bo Henriksen (Mainz 05) were all fired before the winter break as well.

The saddest part about it is that in the cases of Ten Hag, Simonis, and Wagner, they had just joined their clubs in the summer.

In Ten Hag’s case in particular, the Leverkusen board admitted that they had made the mistake of only having asked Ajax about their time with him, while consciously not seeking out the advice of Manchester United as well.

With so many coaching changes, several clubs now have to reevaluate their business decisions from the recent past. For many sides, their results on the field do not reflect the preseason expectations and possibilities.

Negative Surprises

The biggest underachievers so far in the 2025/26 Bundesliga season have clearly been Frankfurt. Ahead of the season, they were considered by many to be the most serious challengers to Bayern Munich. Instead, the Eagles find themselves seventh in the Bundesliga table, far behind those lofty expectations.

In the Champions League, Eintracht have also largely disappointed, with a number of lopsided defeats. A big reason for that has been the inconsistency of their goalkeepers.
Both Kaua Santos and Michael Zetterer have largely failed to fill the boots of Kevin Trapp, the club legend, who decided to move on and finish his career at Paris FC.

Meanwhile, in attack, Jonathan Burkardt has performed well when fit, but has thus far not been able to replace Hugo Ekitike.

Wolfsburg, Gladbach and Augsburg are also very much underachieving, finding themselves in and around the relegation battle, despite the fact that they all expected to at least be in the hunt for the European places.

In the case of Augsburg, they sold out their principles of being a hard-working, lower mid-table side in favour of what they hoped would bring them back to European football with a young and ambitious coach in Sandro Wagner.

They then returned to the roots with the appointment of Manuel Baum to replace Wagner. That brought them some immediate success, but they still find themselves deep in relegation trouble.

Mainz 05 are clear bottom of the Bundesliga table with just eight points to their name. Last season’s sixth-place finishers are in so much relegation trouble because they cannot score, as replacing Jonathan Burkardt has proven an impossible task.

Playing in the Europa Conference League has also proven to be a distraction for Mainz. But the recent appointment of Urs Fischer, the man who took Union Berlin from the second tier of German football into the Champions League, has brought back some hope there.