Talking Fussball Podcast

We sometimes go on about how tough and unpredictable the 2. Bundesliga is and, well...the two sides relegated from the top flight are proving us right thus far! FC Schalke 04 have just one win from their first three games, and Hertha BSC are rock bottom - no points, no goals, no clue. Nik and Jasmine welcome Maik back to the fold to talk through the goings on in the second tier, as well as a string of stories from the Regionalligen. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/talking-fussball/support

The Bundesliga is back, and so is Talking Fussball's coverage of the top flight of German football - for a 12th season running! After all this time, we've just about seen it all, but there are a few new wrinkles. First, while English Premier League clubs continued to buy up the Bundesliga's best, one also saw fit to sell an established star in Harry Kane - how will he fit at FC Bayern and Germany? Second, this season is the first since 1965-66 that the German capital is only represented by one club that is not Hertha BSC - are 1. FC Union Berlin ready for their maiden UEFA Champions League challenge? Join Matt Hermann, Nik Wildhagen and Terry Duffelen for all this and much more. Subscribe to Terry's Dortmund Dispatch newsletter here Support Talking Fussball on Patreon here --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/talking-fussball/support

The 2. Bundesliga is up and running, which means Nik Wildhagen and Jasmine Baba are ready to talk some Fussball! They run you though the key transfers into the league, a string of youngsters to watch as the season unfolds, and their all-important (and perhaps controversial) picks for promotion and relegation come May 2024. Strap in!

Germany's relegation playoffs may not involve teams that play champagne football, but the storylines they offer up are plenty tantalizing. After another loss (this time to Stuttgart), what can the increasingly desperate HSV do to get back to the top flight? Are Bielefeld doomed after sealing their second straight drop with a loss to Wiesbaden? And what should we look forward to in next year's second and third tiers now that we know who's playing in them? Nik, Jasmin and Maik get into it...

He's a football legend, a tabloid mainstay, a prodigious teller of tall tales and a symbol of postwar Germany itself. Franz Beckenbauer is the biggest name to ever emerge from the Bundesliga, and it's appropriate that Uli Hesse, the man who wrote the book on the league (Tor! - if you haven't read it, drop everything and start) should take on the task of writing a new biography of him. It's called The Three Lives of the Kaiser, and the author is on the pod this week to talk with Nik Wildhagen about it...

Wild times on the final weekend in the 2. Bundesliga (oh my Heidenheim!) and the 3. Liga too, where Wiesbaden's promotion party was abruptly cut short by Osnabrück. Join Nik, Jasmine and Maik for a re-cap of all the drama and a preview of what's to come in the two big relegation playoffs: Hamburg vs Stuttgart and Wiesbaden vs. Bielefeld.

We now know SV Darmstadt 98 are headed back to the Bundesliga next season, but there's still plenty to play for for the likes of promotion hopefuls Hamburger Sport-Verein and FC Heidenheim as well as the relegation-threatened Eintracht Braunschweig, 1. FC Nürnberg and Arminia Bielefeld. Nik talks through all the permutations with Maik and Jasmine, as well as take a trip down to the 3. Liga.

When the last Aufstieg edition came out, Hamburger Sport-Verein were riding high off a derby win over FC St. Pauli and edging toward the automatic promotion places. Not so much anymore - their two losses on the trot, as well as a timely defeat for league leaders SV Darmstadt, mean there's still much to play for as the league heads into the final three rounds. Nik, Maik and Jasmine are here to chew the fat over all the action, as well as let you knwo what storues are bubbling under from the lower divisions.

Here in 2023, football leagues selling a stake to a strategic partner is nothing new...but it sure would be for Germany's top flight. The DFL (Deutsche Fußball Liga) has been looking for a private equity firm who might help them bankroll a few projects - everything from media rights sales to international marketing - but not everyone is on board. Could it all blow up in the Bundesliga's face? Nik and Terry let you know what's at stake and who's on what side of the issue...

The Bundesliga title race is still tight after another stumble by the team who entered the match day in the lead. As you'll hear in this edition, Matt and Adam Khan are pretty sure a few refereeing clangers played a part in BVB's slip, but the question remains: does anybody want to win the league? Plenty on the rest of the match day too, including what finally halted Mainz's charge, which teams at the bottom seem to be in driver's seat to stick around next year and more...

It's not every week that it's plausible to argue that a second-tier match might well have had the best atmosphere in Europe, but the Hamburger Stadtderby is an exceptional fixture. The most recent edition saw both teams fighting for promotion heading in...and just one looking up to it at game's end, as Hamburger Sport-Verein took down FC St. Pauli in a 4-3 that allowed them to open up a nine-point gap on the chasing pack. Nik, Jasmine and Maik (poor Maik) talk the clash over in detail, as well as dissect how promoted side 1. FC Magdeburg have managed to distance themselves from the relegation fight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Well what do you know? Against all expectations, on Match Day 29 it was Bayern - not Dortmund - who faltered in the title race, surrendering top spot to the Schwarzgelben. Under the top two the most compelling story, however, might be Leverkusen, who cruised into the Europa League semifinal at midweek and then bopped Leipzig to notch their eighth straight match unbeaten. Guest host Marie Schulte-Bockum invites on Kara Head (formerly of Bayer 04) for a chat about all the storylines from the weekend... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's gotten into Borussia Mönchengladbach? After spending much of the last decade in a renaissance that occasionally rekindled dreams of the club's 1970s heyday, the foals last three seasons have left them flirting dangerously with a return to the lean years of the 90s and 00s. Nik invites Gladbach obsessive Manuel Breuer on for a detailed chat on what's gone wrong and how it might get better. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With just seven games left on the 2. Bundesliga docket, the race for promotion is getting serious...which is often the time of year Hamburger Sport-Verein's hopes of getting back into the top flight starts to fade. Will this season be different? HSV got a big win last weekend, but events off the pitch are ensuring the club can't breath too easy. Listen in as Nik, Jasmine and Maik break down events in the Hansestadt, the comings and goings across the league, and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bayern strolled it against Dortmund on this past weekend. It was an outcome few apart from their own fans were excited about, but it was one that reminded us just how versatile this Bayern side can be when they want to be. Matt talks the big Klassiker win over with his old pal Abel Meszaros, who also shares a few thoughts about a rising Leverkusen side and about Stuttgart who, hapless as ever, made another coaching change. Dig in! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ready for the 2. Bundesliga restart? Nik, Jasmine and Maik are, and they're here to bring you up to speed on what's been happening since they last convened. Rostock have a new coach...and have been living up to their reputation on social media, the Lower Saxony derby turned out to be one to remember, FC St. Pauli's race up the table continues apace, and much more... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As of last fall, when the Bundesliga was entering the World Cup break, Eintracht Frankfurt were flying. The Eagles were in the top four and had successfully battled their way out of their UEFA Champions League group in their maiden season in the competition. These days their chances of mixing it up in the Königsklasse next season seem thin. Nik invites Brian Sanders of the Hey! Eintracht Frankfurt podcast on to find out how the wheels came off since the re-start and how they might get their mojo back in the season's nine remaining games. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Looky there - it's Borussia Dortmund on top of the Bundesliga! Bayern's advance (and Dortmund's failure to) in the UEFA Champions League seemed like it might hold some eventual benefit for the Schwarzgelben, but boy did it come fast, setting up a mouth-watering Klassiker after the international break. Matt welcomes back Jake Payne of 50 Plus Döner for a chat about the shuffling of places in the race for Europe and the teams racing to beat the drop...as well as a conversation about whether his beloved EffZeh might soon be in that latter cluster after a miserable run capped off by the 6-1 hiding they took at the Westfalenstadion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

"A St Pauli fan and a Werder Bremen fan walk into a HSV bar..." sounds like the start of a very particular type of German football joke, and is more or less the premise for this episode of Talking Fussball Extra. Nik and Maik clue you in on how the mighty Hamburger Sport-Verein ended up in the 2. Bundesliga, how they have managed to stay there so long, and how they hope to get out this season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Every time the Revierderby comes around, you can always depend on a hard-fought game and a volcanic atmosphere - sometimes you get a brilliant game as well. So it was this past match day, as FC Schalke 04 underscored their recent resurgence by going toe to toe with Borussia Dortmund in the Revierderby. The Royal Blues may not have dazzled, but few would argue that their fight didn't merit a draw. Listen in as guest host Marie Schulte-Bockum talks with ESPN+'s Derek Rae about the big result, as well as the rest of the action from MD24. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices