Talking Fussball Podcast

It's a heady time of year, what with all the lower league promotion races coming to a head - you might say it's Aufstieg season. Nik and Jasmine talk over all the big stories from the 2. BL on down: FC Schalke 04 are ready to re-join the top flight; Werder Bremen, Hamburger SV, and SV Darmstadt are still in with a shout; 1. FC Kaiserslautern pick a mighty fine time to remind people it's got a huge capacity for madness. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's only natural that a few questions got answered on the second-to-last match day of the 2021-22 Bundesliga season. Union and Cologne were delighted to know they'd reached Europe next year, Leverkusen got on next year's UEFA Champions League train, and Eintracht Frankfurt will have a chance to join them now that they've reached the Europa League final. Brian Sanders of the Hey Eintracht Frankfurt podcast joins Matt to talk about the Eagles' latest sensation, relegation battle intrigue and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This might be the second-to-last match day of the season but, and this might hurt, this will be the last Talking Fussball Fantasy episode. They won't be leaving you hanging next week - JT and Flo will be hosting an extended Twitter Spaces Q&A/happy hour/hang next week at 8:00 p.m. CET. In the meantime, listen in as they offer all the tips that are fit to pod right here... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Another week, another turn of the worm in the battle for promotion out of the 2. Bundesliga - FC Schalke 04 and (gasp!) Hamburger Sportverein are on the rise, while FC St. Pauli and SV Werder Bremen came away disappointed. Plenty left to play for over the last two weeks, but one of the division's biggest clubs (who've been far off the pace all season) have been furiously turning their attention to the future. Hannover 96 have been making moves aplenty - listen in as the gang explore whether they think they'll do the trick in turning the club around. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After all the love JT and Flo got over the past week, they were rearing to go ahead of Match Day 32. It's a straightforward affair in this episode, as they boys run through all the games on the hunt for difference-makers. (Don't worry though - they find time for plenty of digressions on refereeing controversies, JT's appearance on the 2. Bundesliga Podcast, and Flo's delight over Werder Bremen...) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With so many aspirants for promotion to the top flight, you'd think at least one would have sewn it up by now. Not so - no fewer than six clubs can still dream of going up (or at least making it into the play-off), and none can yet rest easy, as all their good work could come to naught with a bad run over the final three rounds. (A nice change from the state of affairs in the 1. Bundesliga, no?) Meanwhile in the third tier, former deutscher Meister 1. FC Kaiserslautern may well be set for a return to the big time - and this being the Aufstieg edition, you know what division we mean. All that and much more from Nik, Jasmine and Maik. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Asking for a friend - is it normal for one team to win the league ten years in a row? Whichever way you might answer that question, it's the reality we Bundesliga fans live in, now that FC Bayern München claimed all three points in a comparatively limp Klassiker on Match Day 31. Matt rounds up Lewis Ambrose for a chat about the Bavarians' pathological dominance, some real movement in the relegation battle, Anthony Modeste's latest goal celebration highjinks and more... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Bundesliga is winding down with just four games to go, and our pundits are ready to give it their all, week by week until the bitter end. Speaking of endings, JT and Flo have an announcement about the future of the show. Listen in for that, and for all the tips you need to get ready for MD31. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For most of the season, Nik's Werder Bremen, Jasmine's SV Darmstadt, and Maik's St. Pauli have been trading places, week by week, at the top of the 2. Bundesliga table. My how times have changed. On this edition of Aufstieg, Nik and Jasmine break down FC Schalke 04's surge to the top of the table, the 3. Liga promotion race, and the continued controversy surrounding Monday fixtures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There's not much of title race on, but just below the top two things get very interesting. RB Leipzig, SC Freiburg, 1. FC Union Berlin and 1. FC Köln all picked up wins on the weekend, and depending on results over the final four weeks, each team from third to eighth could find itself in Europe next season - or out in the cold. Meanwhile, FC Bayern München have all but won the league and are nonetheless in the midst of a major malaise.Matt rounds up Adam Khan to share his views on the goings on. Subscribe to his newsletter here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you've watched German football over the past decade and a half, you'll know that FC Schalke 04 has long maintained a close relationship to Gazprom, the Russian natural gas giant. But ever since Vladimir Putin sent the Russian army on a brutal campaign to invade Ukraine, many in Germany were forced to reckon with their business ties to Russia...and came to the conclusion that those ties needed to be severed. Nik Widhagen called up Schalke reporter Ron Ulrich to talk about the steps the club has been taking to move on from its dependence on Russian largesse. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

1. FC Union Berlin made it three for three in the German capital's Stadtmeisterschaft this past weekend, giving everyone another plum opportunity to gawk at the mess Hertha BSC has become. After an extra day to survey the wreckage, a crestfallen Matt hauls in Kit Holden for their traditional tête-à-tête. They talk about the derby, Union's chances of heading back to Europe next season in a crowded field of aspirants, what Bayern need to do to get past Villareal, Leipzig and Eintracht's chances in the Europa League and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As you may have heard (on Monday's TF Direct among other places), FC Bayern München didn't quite manage to stick to just 11 men on the pitch at one time this past weekend. A few choice comments this week from Julian Nagelsmann that sounded like blame-shifting meant JT and Flo couldn't resist going in on the coach of the Rekordmeister. They'll let you know if that brouhaha might have any fantasy implications, whether it's time to shell out for Erling Haaland, and which Saturday games to tilt toward when selecting your team this wekeend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Could FC Schalke 04 actually be getting itself back on on track? It may be too soon to tell, but the Royal Blues' three-game win streak has put them back in the thick of the race for promotion back to the top flight. Nik and the gang talk through Schalke's chances for a speedy return, St. Pauli fans' chilly reception by police in Rostock, Türkgücü's financial flameout, and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If there was much doubt that RB Leipzig are the form team in the Bundesliga, they erased that on Match Day 28, putting four past Borussia Dortmund in the Schwarzgelben's big full-house return to the Westfalenstadion. Matt gets hold of Terry Duffelen to mull over the consequences of that bog result, engage in some mutual head-scratching over Bayern's failed substitution in Freiburg, and look over the World Cup draw from a Bundesliga fan's perspective. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Bundesliga is entering the final stretch - just seven games to go. Most importantly for all the #BLFantasy managers out there, this window is the last one to offer UNLIMITED TRANSFERS. There might not be whole lot of season left to show off your re-vamped team, but that's no reason not to re-vamp it in the first place. Listen in as JT and Flo let you know all the best bets for big points in the run-in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It came as something of a shock when Hertha BSC named Felix Magath as their interim coach last week. The coaching icon who's been out of the German top flight for a decade may be in the capital on a limited appointment, but the announcement rocked the German football world, crashing web sites and attracting extraordinary media attention. So what makes the man they call 'Quälix' such a big deal? To get you up to speed on all the laurels, legends, and lore that punctuate Magath's career, Nik Wildhagen called on Matt Hermann and Flo Reinecke. As you'll hear, there's a lot to talk about... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plenty of the Bundesliga's biggest clubs have felt that sinking feeling at one time or another this season - none more so than VfB Stuttgart and Hertha BSC. There are reasons to think that might change after both were winners on Match Day 27. Listen in as Matt talks with The Athletic's Chris McCarthy about Hertha's coaching change, Stuttgart's radical embrace of continuity, BVB's latest disappointment and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The twists and turns continue in the 2. Bundesliga promotion race, as the candidates swapped spots at the top with just eight games left. The Coronavirus pandemic came roaring back this week, throwing a worrying wild card in the to mix as well. Listen in as Nik, Maik and Jasmine fill you in on all the latest from the second tier and below... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

No TF Direct this week - we've got something completely different, and completely urgent to current events. Nik speaks with Eastern European football expert James Montague about Ukrainian ultras - how they've been deeply enmeshed in the country's conflict with Russia for years, and what they're up to as Russia's assault intensifies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices