The Bundesliga returns from its brief winter slumber with a huge set of fixtures to kick off 2025, starting with Borussia Dortmund at home to Bayer Leverkusen.
Three weeks of winter break tedium are very nearly over. The Bundesliga is about to return and is bringing some new year fireworks in the first fixture of 2025, as Matchday 16 kicks off with Dortmund hosting defending champions Leverkusen at the Signal Iduna Park on Friday night10 January, as they look to replicate their incredible 2024.
Die Werkself lost just three competitive games over the previous 12 months as they stormed to an unprecedented unbeaten league and DFB Cup double. And despite a mixed start to the 2024-25 campaign, they are now right on the tail of leaders FC Bayern München after winning their past five Bundesliga matches.
In Dortmund, Leverkusen face a side currently struggling with a case of Jekyll and Hyde syndrome. Unbeaten at home in the Bundesliga, Nuri Şahin’s men have managed just one away league win this term, so will be happy to play hosts on this occasion. At the start of the year they sit two points behind the top four and will be hoping a good run of form can put them firmly in a UEFA Champions League qualification spot.
Bayern, meanwhile, continue their quest for a 33rd Bundesliga Meisterschale when they travel to Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday evening. The Bavarians ended 2024 with a 5-1 hammering of RB Leipzig, but they face a Gladbach outfit that has suffered just one defeat in their previous eight league fixtures.
The Foals are also something of a bogey team for the record champions, having prevailed in seven meetings across all competitions since 2017. Harry Kane, the Bundesliga’s top goalscorer with 14 strikes this term, will be eager to start the year right by adding to his own tally and making sure his team don’t suffer another defeat at the hands of Gerardo Seoane’s men.
Looking to take advantage of any slip-ups from the duo above them in the standings will be Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday afternoon. They sit third, nine points off top spot, and travel to FC St. Pauli hoping to return to form after failing to win any of the past five matches in all competitions.
Despite occupying a lowly 14th place, Die Kiezkicker have pushed Bayern, Dortmund and Leverkusen close before eventually losing, and recently beat VfB Stuttgart away from home. Frankfurt, therefore, will need to be at their best to break their recent disappointing streak, with 13-goal Omar Marmoush expected to lead the line.
Leipzig and SV Werder Bremen will start Sunday’s action at the Red Bull Arena. The hosts have had three weeks to mull over that heavy Bayern loss and welcome a Bremen outfit who are sitting pretty in the table in seventh place and trail them by just two points. A Werder win could therefore see Ole Werner’s men climb as high as third, if other results also go their way.
Also flying high, 1. FSV Mainz 05 play struggling VfL Bochum 1848 on their home turf on Saturday afternoon. This has been an impressive campaign for the 05ers so far after climbing to fifth, but Bochum are themselves in desperate need, still rooted to the foot of the table, having picked up their first three-point haul of the campaign at the 15th attempt last time out against 1. FC Heidenheim 1846.
That defeat for Heidenheim left them in 16th place and just two points ahead of the automatic relegation spots, meaning a triumph over 1. FC Union Berlin, also on Saturday, would be greatly appreciated. Die Eisernen begin the year with a new head coach in Steffen Baumgart, who featured for the club as a player, so Heidenheim under the division’s longest-serving coach in Frank Schmidt will need to be wary of any potential new manager bounce.
Amongst the other Saturday afternoon fixtures, SC Freiburg host Holstein Kiel still very much in the hunt for a European place under new boss Julian Schuster. Kiel, meanwhile, are second-bottom and in need of points, fast.
TSG Hoffenheim and VfL Wolfsburg also meet on Saturday, with both teams eager to move up the table. Hoffenheim are currently in the worse predicament, just four points above the bottom three, while the Wolves have lost their last two after an earlier spell of good form and must be careful not to allow any complacency to settle in.
Rounding off the weekend’s action, Stuttgart make the journey to FC Augsburg where they will try to bounce back from the year-ending 1-0 loss to St. Pauli. The return of top scorer Deniz Undav is much-needed, but they face a challenging match-up against the usually resolute Fuggerstädter, who themselves must recover from their 5-1 loss against Kiel before the winter break.
