As the dust settles on another fascinating Bundesliga season, there was bad news for one of Germany’s biggest guns as Red Bull Leipzig failed to qualify for European competition for the first time since 2017, finishing seventh in the league table at the final count.
A last day game at home to mid-table VfB Stuttgart was a decent opportunity for Die Roten Bullen but they fluffed their lines, as the visitors edged possession and won the shot counts by 15 to eight and seven to five on target. It was a sad end to the campaign for the club which parted company with head coach Marco Rose in March and replaced him with Zsolt Low. But ultimately the switch in the technical area failed to have the desired effect and Leipzig will have a significantly lighter workload next season, for the first time since they reached the top flight.
Red Bull came out against Stuttgart with all guns blazing and were ahead on eight minutes through Xavi Simons, but were they were pegged back twice, firstly by Deniz Undav and then, after Ridle Baku gave the hosts a half time lead, a header from Nick Woltemade levelled again and, at that point, the tide turned. Leipzig’s play became nervy and Stuttgart took advantage as Undav fed Ermedin Demirovic for the 78th minute winner. The Bundesliga 2025 betting odds long predicted Red Bull would finish in the top four but they are left to lick their wounds and regroup over the summer.
Despite finishing ninth in the table VfB have a superb chance to qualify for the 2025/26 Europa League when they face third tier champions Arminia Bielefeld in the DFB Pokal final on 24th May. Meanwhile FSV Mainz took advantage of Red Bull’s slip up by sneaking into the sixth place thanks to a hard fought 2-2 draw with runners up Bayer Leverkusen, a result which gives Mainz a Europa Conference League place.
A Paul Nebel goal gave Die Nullfunfers a half time lead, but a five-minute brace from Patrick Schick, early in the second half, turned the game on its head. Cometh the hour, cometh the man and Jonathan Burkhardt was the coolest guy in the stadium when he calmly slotted home a 63rd minute penalty to make it 18 goals for the season and send Mainz into European competition for just the fifth time in their history.
BVB gatecrash the Top Four
After a poor first half of the campaign, Borussia Dortmund came good in the run-in, though they left it late to qualify for the 2025 Champions League, starting Round 34 in fifth place. BVB made short work of dispatching Holstein Kiel on the final day of the campaign as goals from Serhou Guirassy, Marcel Sabitzer and Felix Nemecha swept aside the already relegated Kiel. Nico Kovac’s side finished the season with a brilliant set of Bundesliga 2025 results, seven wins and one draw from the least eight games, and they look well set to challenge in both Europe and the domestic league next year.
Die Schwarzgelben’s win meant they could complete their charge into the top four at the expense of one of the teams in our SBOTOP clash of the weekend between SC Freiburg, who began the day in fourth, and Eintracht Frankfurt, one place above them in third. The Eagles have been knocking on the door of Champions League qualification for a couple of weeks now, coming into the game with back-to-back draws while Freiburg were on the cusp of qualifying for the first time in their history. And the home fans were dreaming when their top scorer Ritsi Doan gave them a lead midway through the first half, but they were pegged back when Ansgar Knauff levelled in the fourth minute of first half stoppage time.
It was a crucial time to score, changing the half time team talks and the moods in the dressing rooms and the Eagles had the momentum coming into the second half. Rasmus Kristensen and Ellyes Skhiri scored within two devastating minutes to effectively end the game midway through the second half and Frankfurt finally booked their place in the Champions League, while Freiburg finished in fifth and will make their way towards the Europa League.
Bayern Munich had already won their 33rd Bundesliga title and Leverkusen were solid in second and they are joined in Europe’s elite competition by the consistently third best team and the in-form side of the past two months. Freiburg and Mainz put up a good fight and have some reward, but there will be serious questions asked in Leipzig.
At the bottom end of the table we say goodbye to Holstein Kiel and VfL Bochum while St Pauli and TSG Hoffenheim have narrowly survived, leaving 16th placed Heidenheim to face a play-off against the Bundesliga 2 third placed team. The second tier concludes on Sunday; SV Hamburg are already promoted with Koln in second, needing just a point from their home game with FC Kaiserslautern to join them, and the play-off spot will be taken by one of four teams, with SV Elversberg currently in third.
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