🔮 Is Olise stealing Kane’s goals? Our reaction to the season prediction

In the summer, we made our predictions for the Bundesliga season 2025/26. Find out here what has come true so far and what was absolute nonsense.

Who will be the champion?

Lennard Bacher (Bayern): Check!

Moritz Oppermann (Bayern): Told you so. 

Felix Thielemann (Bayern): *Shrug*

Selina Eckstein (Bayern): The excitement this season is only about the places behind Bayern. 

Justus Pludra (Bayern): Uh yeah, maybe it won't be that close after all.

Who will be the Bundesliga's rising star?

Lennard Bacher (Said El Mala): For once, I didn't crash with my euphoric FC glasses on. Keep it up!

Moritz Oppermann (Samuel Mbangula): Collected six scorer points in 14 competitive matches, not bad for a start. 

Felix Thielemann (Lennart Karl): I keep patting myself on the back for the early hype and enjoy every dream goal.

Selina Eckstein (Ibrahim Maza): It's going well! Thanks to his goal, Leverkusen is in the cup quarter-finals, and he's currently a fixture in the league midfield. 

Justus Pludra (Johan Manzambi): If he continues like this, he might soon dominate not the Bundesliga at will, but the list of Freiburg's record departures in winter.

📸 Daniela Porcelli - 2025 Getty Images

The only chance Harry Kane won't be the top scorer is...

Lennard Bacher (, that Olise and Diaz steal goals from the Englishman and Guirassy ends up at the top): Too few goals are being stolen, and Guirassy isn't scoring anymore. It's over. 

Moritz Oppermann(, that Robert Lewandowski returns to Dortmund): This Moritz Oppermann hit the nail on the head six months ago. 

Felix Thielemann (, that penalties are suddenly abolished. Then maybe it could be Guirassy): Guirassy unexpectedly weak, Kane still the best striker in the world. As long as he stays in the Bundesliga, this title is his.

Selina Eckstein(, that Jobe Bellingham is as insanely good as his brother and shoots everything in the league down): My past self really made a good joke. Currently, he's as far away from that as BVB is from the championship. 

Justus Pludra(, that a biblical injury plague breaks out at Bayern and Kane has to play as a left-back): As much as Kompany likes to rotate, maybe it doesn't even need the injury plague..´

Who will be relegated?

Lennard Bacher (Heidenheim and HSV, Relegation: St. Pauli): Everything is still possible. 

Moritz Oppermann (Köln and HSV, Relegation: St. Pauli): I stand by it. 

Felix Thielemann (Heidenheim and St. Pauli, Relegation: HSV or Union): HSV and Union are messing up my prediction a bit, but it could still happen...

Selina Eckstein (HSV and St. Pauli, Relegation: Werder): I was probably too hard on the northern clubs. However, I believe HSV will fight against relegation until the end of the season. 

Justus Pludra (Union and Heidenheim, Relegation: HSV): Everything is going according to plan.

Which coach will be fired first?

Lennard Bacher (Steffen Baumgart): Seems like it will take another year until Baumgart wears out and can move to Hansa Rostock. 

Moritz Oppermann (Christian Ilzer): Yeah - without my lawyer, I'd rather not say anything more here. 

Felix Thielemann (Gerardo Seoane): Just missed it, who would have expected ten Hag to fail so early.

Selina Eckstein (Gerardo Seoane): The first expected dismissal, so I'd give myself half a point. 

Justus Pludra (Steffen Baumgart): Only stayed in the job because the position at Hansa wasn't available. Source: Trust me, brother.

Which four to five teams will land in the CL spots?

Lennard Bacher (Bayern, BVB, SGE, Leverkusen, VfB): If Frankfurt gets a bit more consistency and RB's injury woes continue, it's still easily possible. We'll wait and see..

Moritz Oppermann (Bayern, SGE, BVB, Leverkusen, VfB): Frankfurt is struggling a bit with the CL burden, but it will work out. 

Felix Thielemann (Bayern, Leverkusen, Frankfurt, BVB): I probably underestimated Leipzig and overestimated SGE.

Selina Eckstein (Bayern, SGE, BVB, Leverkusen): Similar to Felix, I need to replace Frankfurt with Leipzig. Frankfurt will miss the CL spots. 

Justus Pludra (Bayern, Leverkusen, Leipzig, Stuttgart and Frankfurt): BVB is always good for a surprise. Unfortunately, so is Hoffenheim.

What is your personal hot take for the season?

Lennard Bacher (Mainz is stuck in the relegation battle all season): You could smell the trouble from across the country. 

Moritz Oppermann (Frankfurt will be autumn champions): The second half of the season isn't over yet...

Felix Thielemann (Niko Kovač will be dismissed in spring): The clock is ticking, Niko! Time to learn Chinese, my friend. 

Selina Eckstein (Nick Woltemade stays in Stuttgart this season): I'd say that's a sentence with an X. At least things are going pretty well for him in the Premier League. 

Justus Pludra (Leverkusen will comfortably be runners-up and narrowly miss the championship): I'm confidently blaming Erik ten Hag for this one.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

📸 THOMAS KIENZLE - AFP or licensors