Talking Fussball Podcast

Forgive us if we're feeling woozy. It's been twelve years since FC Bayern München got off to a start this poor, and more than 20 since they went four games without a win. It's a lot to take in, especially with a Revierderby on the docket, as well as a supremely confident performance from table-toppers 1. FC Union Berlin. Borussia Dortmund: A History in Black and Yellow author Terry Duffelen returns to the pod to talk through all the action from Match Day 7. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're offering up something a bit special today - a small taste of what you'll find over on our Patreon page! Our resident Bundesliga history buff Nik Wildhagen has curated another season of Historic Matchday Moments, a series of shorts about some of the biggest happenings in German top flight history, doled out week by week. This week Nik speaks with Michael Pahl of the FC St Pauli museum, who gives us a window on the Hamburg club's development from a fairly sleepy football club to the international symbol of swashbuckling punk-rock progressivism we know today. You could say it all started in 1977, when they got one over on their eternal rivals HSV. We hope you enjoy it - if you do, please become a patron of the pod, for as little as $3 a month! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

They said it was a one-team league. If it was, at the moment that one team would be 1. FC Union Berlin, the low-budget side from the capital that's been getting high-end results all season. (With FC Bayern München slightly adrift, someone has to take up the mantle.) This week Matt welcomes a new guest, Jake Payne of the 50 Plus Döner show, to talk over the unfamiliar order at the top, the triumphant return of Marco Rose, and a string of puzzling VAR decisions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Once again, it's only been two weeks since our last peek into the non-elite levels of the German football pyramid, and there's more than enough to talk about. 1. FC Nürnberg lost their assistant coach (Bastian Schweinsteiger's brother Tobias) to VfL Osnabrück, Frank Schmidt and Heidenheim keep hanging around the upper reaches of the table, and Hannover 96 look like they've turned a corner...but have some challenging fixtures ahead. Listen in as Nik, Jasmine and Maik break it all down. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Another week, another Bayern draw and lo and behold - we've got a new team at the top! SC Freiburg (of all clubs) are now sitting pretty after a gritty comeback win in Leverkusen and a stout defensive display from Union Berlin. Borussia Dortmund's win meant they passed up the Bavarians too, so we've got quite a logjam in the upper reaches of the table. Matt sits down with the delightful Eva-Lotta Bohle (2. Bundesliga Pod, Rasenfunk) to talk through how it all went down, as well as how all the Bundesliga's many teams in European competition are looking as they face down an intense couple of months of group stage toil. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you like attacking football and loads of goals at both ends, you need to be watching Werder Bremen. The venerable northern German club have played just four games since coming back to the 1. Bundesliga, and in those games the back of the net has been tickled no less than twenty times - ten for and ten against. The club's return to the top flight has given us plenty to talk about - it's up to Nik and Jasmine (each of whom have a strong connection to the club) to do the talking. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Boy did we ever praise Bayern to the skies last week after they put the hurt on a Bundesliga opponent for the second time in three games! But this past weekend, on the fourth match day, Borussia Mönchengladbach came to the Allianz - and if you know your recent history, that means trouble for the Rekordmeister. This time, the trouble was named Yann Sommer, who stonewalled Bayern into a 1-1 draw. Matt invites the excellent Derek Rae (ESPN, EA Sports FIFA series) on to talk the result over, to get his thoughts on the draws of all eight BuLi sides in UEFA competition, and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The 2. Bundesliga season is just five games old but there's already plenty of drama - Hamburger Sport-Verein basically melted down on the pitch last week, Arminia Bielefeld fired their coach, and Hansa Rostock fans showed their true colors when FC St. Pauli fans came to town. Nik, Jasmine, and Maik have all that and more, as well as lots of news from the lower leagues as well. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The evidence is getting overwhelming - FC Bayern München are too good for the Bundesliga. We've had ten long years of dominance, but this particular Bayern might be better than ever. With a gaudy +14 goal difference after just three games, what other conclusion can we come to? Matt brings on Ronan Murphy of footballtransfers.com to talk about what makes them so good, as well as to chat about Borussia Mönchengladbach's strong start, Dortmund's legendary late loss, and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you look at the Bundesliga table at the moment, you'll see some familiar sights - Bayern first, Dortmund second - but you'll also find at least one big surprise: Bayer 04 Leverkusen are rock bottom. With just two games played, it's very early days, but for a team accustomed to playing in Europe year after year, any time spent on the relegation rungs is concerning. Nik calls up Eric Bruehl of the Neverkusen Podcast to find out what's gone awry for the Werkself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's a familiar sight at the top of the Bundesliga: FC Bayern are first, followed by Borussia Dortmund, followed by 16 other teams. It's early days, but as yet, Germany's two heavyweights are making a good case for being the class of the division again. Top guest Marie Schulte-Bockum joins Matt on the pod to talk through the duopoly's strong start, as well as how she's feeling about whether her beloved FC Schalke 04 are prepared to mount a credible campaign to stay in the top flight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The 2. Bundesliga kind of got a jump on Talking Fussball Extra crew this season. With three match days already in the books, we're joining the action mid-stream, and that means there's a lot to cover! Luckily Nik Wildhagen, Jasmine Baba, and Maik Krükemeier are back to fill you in on news in Germany's second tier and below. The trio share their picks for promotion, relegation, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Bundesliga is back and so are we! The first TFD of the season takes you through the big storylines of the week - Bayern's bright start in the first league game of the post-Lewandowski era; Dortmund getting past Leverkusen in a clash of the title hopefuls...and then buying Anthony Modeste - as well as a word on each fixture. Matt also speaks with Kit Holden about 1. FC Union Berlin's fourth straight derby win over Hertha BSC, as well as his new book Scheisse! We're Going Up! (pre-order link), which tracks the Köpenick club's history from its beginnings in the DDR to its recent rise to 1. Bundesliga success in today's unified Germany. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nik Wildhagen and Terry Duffelen, author of Borussia Dortmund: A History in Black and Yellow are ready to put the lid on our three-part series on Borussia Dortmund. Part three zooms in on a significantly more positive narrative than last week. Instead of a great fall, it's the story of BVB's rebirth under Jürgen Klopp. Listen in to hear how the former FSV Mainz 05 coach harnessed the club's passionate support off the pitch and established a progressive tactical framework on it to take the Schwarzgelben back to the top. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nik Wildhagen and Terry Duffelen, author of Borussia Dortmund: A History in Black and Yellow are back with part two of our three-part series on Borussia Dortmund! We left off part one with BVB hoisting the UEFA Champions League trophy in 1997 - still the biggest title the club has ever won. It seemed like Dortmund might be on the verge of a period of dominance...until reality hit. A series of blunders on the transfer market, in managerial appointments, and at the boardroom level sent the club into a tailspin. Listen in for a story of a great fall. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Here comes the first episode in a three-part series on Borussia Dortmund. Over the next three weeks Nik Wildhagen and Terry Duffelen, author of Borussia Dortmund: A History in Black and Yellow will walk you through a few pivotal phases in the history of a special club. BVB enchants fans all over the world - with so many young stars playing attacking football in front of one of the greatest in-stadium atmosphere in sports, it's an easy club to fall for. It's a sporting and commercial powerhouse, and it's widely seen as the second force in German football (after the all-conquering FC Bayern München). But it wasn't always this way. BVB underwent a fundamental transformation in the 1990s, which brought a first Bundesliga title and a determination to play in the financial big leagues. As you'll hear, however, it wasn't all smooth sailing... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What a season we've just put in the rearview mirror here on the Aufstieg edition. Wild scenes in the relegation playoffs, disappointing late-season collapses from SV Darmstadt and FC St. Pauli, and who could forget Markus Anfang's falsified vaccine passport? Nik and Jasmine certainly couldn't - and they've got plenty of other memories to share too, along with teams of the season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's one of those special German things: Relegation playoffs pitting the third-best team in a lower division against the third-worst team from the division above. This time out, Hertha BSC staged a second-leg comeback to ensure they'd stay in the top flight at Hamburger Sport-Verein's expense, while in the lower-tiered clash, 1. FC Kaiserslautern exited the 3. Liga by beating SG Dynamo Dresden 2-0 away after a scoreless first leg at the Betzenberg. Listen in as Nik and Jasmine take you through the drama, as well as mull over what it means for Hertha to stay up, HSV to stay down, and for 'Lautern and Dresden to swap divisions.... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It was fun while it lasted for them, but Werder Bremen made it out of the 2. Liga after just one year. Hamburg may join them after their four-season stint, but they still have to knock off Hertha to seal the deal. Lost of other promotion and relegation drama across the lower leagues - Nik and the gang are here to wrap it all up in a bow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Well wasn't that a rousing way to end a season? VfB Stuttgart's last gasp winner (combined with BVB's late go-ahead goal) was enough to let the Swabians stay put in the top flight, and send Hertha BSC into the relegation play-off. Lots to discuss from MD34, as well as plenty to ponder about which teams can feel satisfied heading into the offseason. In fact, Matt and Terry sort out where all 18 teams stand on the satisfaction scale... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices