Talking Fussball

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.

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.

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...

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...

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...

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...

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.....