Talking Fussball Podcast

It's not often that news about a boardroom-level figure takes over the football conversation in Germany, but Hertha BSC President Kay Bernstein's untimely death hit the game hard. Nik invites TF's resident Hertha-head Matt on to talk about what legacy the ultra turned head man might leave behind. Maik, meanwhile, helps explain why a fan group in Glasgow is exposing a political rift within the FC St. Pauli community. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/talking-fussball/support

The Winterpause is a thing of the past - Germany's top flight sides got back to business this past weekend, and more than a few clubs gave debuts to newcomers who came in through the open transfer window. Nik and Terry run through all the most interesting moves, as well as take a moment to remember Germany's biggest football icon, the late Franz Beckenbauer. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/talking-fussball/support

The season is only half done in the 2. Liga, but it's already been a wild ride. After weeks and weeks on top, FC St. Pauli surrendered the Herbstmeisterschaft to Holstein Kiel, and multiple teams have seen their fotunes change drastically in the space of a couple of months. Nik sits down with Jasmine to talk over the biggest storylines form the Hinrunde, as well as tell you about which players have proven their worth most richly as we head into the Winterpause. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/talking-fussball/support

When Germany's most engaged football fans speak in near-unison, as they did on MD15, it's time to listen up. Matt and Nik look to unpack ultras' concerns about the DFL's decision to seek a strategic investor to help them keep pace with the Premier League's skyrocketing media rights valuations. Heading into the final round before the Winterpause, Leverkusen, Bayern and Leipzig each notched big wins, but BVB were the latest side to encounter tougher-than-expected going in Augsburg. Marie Schulte-Bockum returns to the pod to fill us in on what's got FCA going so strong. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/talking-fussball/support

Coming off a 2. Bundesliga-tastic round in the DFB Pokal, it feels appropriate to zoom in on Hertha Berlin and Hamburger Sport-Verein, two teams that squared off in an instant classic. Winners in that match, Hertha are beginning to look like a side that could scale a few rungs higher in the league. HSV, meanwhile, are going off the boil. Nik and Jasmine talk through these storylines (especially the latter), as well as bring you up to speed on stories from the lower leagues. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/talking-fussball/support

The end of the Hinrunde is drawing nearer and it's looking ever more likely that Bayer 04 Leverkusen will stay on top of the league for the winter. That's mostly down to them still not having lost a single game, but at least this weekend they can thank the weather too. With Munich buried in snow, FC Bayern didn't manage to get their game against 1. FC Union Berlin in on Match Day 13, which meant the pharmaceuticals' home draw with Borussia Dortmund didn't cost them first place - at least not yet. Matt, Nik and Terry chat about that big clash, set up a few games to watch in the DFB Pokal this week, and chew the fat about the goings on in the Bundesliga. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/talking-fussball/support

With their win away to Hansa Rostock on match day 14, FC St. Pauli are sitting pretty on top of the 2. Bundesliga for a seventh straight week. That suits our Maik just fine, of course, but he, Nik and Jasmine know that the stakes of Friday's big Hamburg city derby against HSV are still massive. The gang also takes a look at Tobias Schweinsteiger's exit from VfL Osnabrück, a scary incident in Dresden, and more from the lower leagues. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/talking-fussball/support

Over the past five years, sometimes it's felt like 1. FC Union Berlin could only go up. The Köpenickers' rise from little-club-that-could to European contender has been among the best in world football over that span, but now it's come to an end after Urs Fischer, the coach who took them from the 2. Bundesliga to the UEFA Champions League, decided they'd be better off without him. For a little insight on how it all went down, Matt turns to Kit Holden, who covers the Irons for Berlin's Tagesspiegel newspaper, as well as talks it out with Nik and Terry. They also get into what might be ailing the suddenly lame Borussia Dortmund and investor talk swirling around Werder Bremen and the league as a whole. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/talking-fussball/support

FC St. Pauli continued to set the pace in the 2. Bundesliga on MD13, even as they slumped to a 0-0 draw at home to the rising Hannover 96. But enough about the result, the real story at the Millerntor was the Polizeieinsatz, which felt to many like an overreaction. Nik and Maik talk that incident over, try and figure out what's gotten into two of the 2. Liga's newly-promoted sides, and much more from the lower divisions. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/talking-fussball/support

As you might have heard, FC Bayern München went to Dortmund and took their hosts BVB apart...but that's the way the Klassiker seems to go in recent years. Nik and Terry dig into that and other stories, including a tempestuous week for Mainz 05 that ended with a win, Cologne's persisting troubles, coming changes at the top for Werder Bremen and more. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/talking-fussball/support

With nearly one-third of the season in the books, FC St. Pauli look a good bet to go up to the top flight. Nik draws out our resident Pauli fan Maik on what's going so right at the Millerntor, and whether the club's lengthy unbeaten run is at rick anytime soon. Jasmine weighs in on whether Eintracht Braunschweig is beyond help, and the gang break out their rain gear to talk about the sodden mess in Saarbrücken that wrought havoc in the 3. Liga and the DFB Pokal. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/talking-fussball/support

With Bayer 04 Leverkusen riding high, it was high time for a check-in with one of their biggest fans Eric Bruehl. He and Nik have been busy putting together the new TORWART series on the TF Patreon, so we thought getting them together for a discussion of Match Day 8 was a natural. Matt steers things toward a discussion of Leverkusen's hot start before entering the choppy waters of FSV Mainz 05 and FC Bayern München's social media messaging around the Israel-Palestine conflict. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/talking-fussball/support

Nik is back with Maik and Jasmine to talk over the lay of the land in the 2. Bundesliga and the German lower leagues! FC St. Pauli are still riding high, FC Schalke 04 have looked to the West for assistance in getting out of the latest ditch they've fallen into, and a legal fight in Karlsruhe continues. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/talking-fussball/support

What in the world has gotten into 1. FC Union Berlin? After a string of tight low-scoring losses, the irons got a bit more ambitious this past week. They scored two goals in both their UEFA Champions League and their Bundesliga fixture...and still managed to lose them both. Matt talks over the Köpenickers' troubles with Terry, along with the recent steady play of Borussia Dortmund - is it just good vibes or something more? They also address the sense of thrill that watching Bayer 04 Leverkusen tends to engender lately, Serhou Guirassy's unreal scoring form, and much more. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/talking-fussball/support

Recent seasons have not always been kind to Germany's northern Traditionsvereine, but their luck may be changing in the 2. Liga. Take a glance at the table and you'll find the two Hamburg clubs in first and second, followed closely by Hannover 96 and Holstein Kiel. What's behind all the success? Find out as Nik and Maik (northerners both) talk you through all the top storylines from Germany's non-top-flight football leagues... --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/talking-fussball/support

Five games into the 2023-24 Bundesliga season, FC Bayern München, Bayer 04 Leverkusen and RB Leipzig are - as expected - looking pretty damn good. But there are a number of surprises: TSG Hoffenheim and VfB Stuttgart are also setting a blistering pace, while 1. FC Köln, Borussia Mönchengladbach and 1. FSV Mainz 05 have yet to record a win. Matt, Nik, and Terry are ready to talk all those teams' prospects over, as well as take a look at what Julian Nagelsmann might do in his new job. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/talking-fussball/support

Sometimes it's all about timing. With Jasmine taking a break from the podcast this week, Nik spends the hour with Maik, whose beloved FC St. Pauli busted loose with a thundering win on Match Day 6. Holstein Kiel went to the Millerntor on a high but got thrashed 5-1 and our panelist has plenty to say about it. Hertha BSC, meanwhile, also picked up three points but have some choice comments from owners 777 Partners to contend with, and the DFB have turned to a man with deep lower league roots to help turn the men's national team program around. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/talking-fussball/support

With the Bundesliga on a break, the German football world turns its attention to the national team. For the last half-decade or so, that's been a pretty unappealing prospect as the team has played a lot of uninspiring football. Hansi Flick's disappointing two-year spell at the helm came to a close on Sunday, so Matt, Nik and Terry took the opportunity to talk through what's been ailing the DFB Team and how they might get back on track. The boys also examine a few winners and losers in the transfer window as well as whose fans will be happiest with their European away days this fall. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/talking-fussball/support

Would you believe Germany's lower divisions have been serving up more offbeat stuff over the past two weeks? If you're a devoted fan of this pod, I think you would! After Nik's repeated hat tips to A-ha last week, this time out he makes sure Jasmine is driven to tears by references to another group of 1980s giants as they talk through questionable police tactics at St Pauli, ticket price conflicts, and the licensing shenanigans behind a fixture in the Hessenliga... --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/talking-fussball/support

Two games into the Bundesliga season, we still don't know much - but we think we know a few things: Harry Kane is going to fit in just fine at FC Bayern München, 1. FC Union Berlin appear to have bought well over the summer, and SV Werder Bremen are in for a long season. Matt, Terry and Nik mull over some early results as well as get into stories off the pitch - from shots fired in Augsburg to Dortmund's new cat fancy. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/talking-fussball/support