Bundesliga 2025/26 Season Preview
As teams around Germany prepare for the start of the 63rd Bundesliga season, our soccer experts break down the teams to watch in 2025/26.
Bettina Carlson - Aug 6, 2025, 1:24am EDTThe 2025/26 Bundesliga Season kicks off with a Friday night showdown between defending champions Bayern München and last season’s 7th place finishers Red Bull Leipzig. Our Bundesliga experts are back to preview the upcoming season, give their picks for who could be hoisting the Meisterschale at the end of the year.
Clear Favorite
Let’s be honest, Bayern München -380 are, with the exception of maybe Paris Saint-Germain, the most consistently dominant soccer club in Europe if not the world. They’ve won the Bundesliga 18 times since the 2000/01 season, and it took Bayer Leverkusen going an entire season without losing a match for them to win the title in 2023/24. In his second season as head coach, Vincent Kompany knows his job is on the line and it’s win or you’re gone. Despite their winning ways, München doesn’t have a lot of loyalty with coaches, they’ve had 17 different head coaches since 2000.
Contenders to Watch
Bayer Leverkusen +750 finished last season in 2nd place, and are the last team to win the Bundesliga title aside from Bayern München. Their run during the 2023/24 season is still fresh in many people’s minds. New coach Erik ten Hag and Captain Lukas Hradecky will be looking to return to the form of 2 years ago and win their second Bundesliga title. Time will tell how Leverkusen will adapt to the new coaching style, but for the moment, their recent performance makes them a team to watch.
Despite their 4th place finish in 2024/25, Borussia Dortmund +1100 has to be considered a contender this season. BVB coach Niko Kovač took over the squad in February of this year and will be looking to lead his team to some sort of hardware for the first time since the 2020/21 season. The former Croatia team captain has already proven that he can lead the team to victory. BVB have won 60% of their games with him as coach, and that type of winning percentage coupled with some draws could have them securely in the title hunt this season.
The Longshot?
Rarely in sports, let alone in soccer does a team get promoted to the top division and have the success that Red Bull Leipzig +1800 has experienced. Since being promoted to the Bundesliga in the 2016/17 season, their worst finish was last season in 7th place. Much like BVB and Leverkusen, Leipzig also have a new coach Ole Werner at the helm and with no qualifications for international competitions this year they will be fully concentrated on winning the Bundesliga.