Eintracht Frankfurt (2-0-1, 5th) play host to 1. FC Union Berlin (1-0-2, 14th) in the fourth matchweek of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season at Deutsche Bank Park (Sunday, 15:30 CET).
| Jeong Woo-yeong celebrates scoring 1. FC Union Berlin’s second goal against Eintracht Frankfurt, 9. March 2025. | (Photo by Alex Grimm / Getty Images) |
EINTRACHT FRANKFURT
Dino Toppmöller’s Eintracht Frankfurt side (2-0-1, 5th) walk into this match with just three days of rest – however, they made their UEFA Champions League opening match count, thrashing Turkish champions Galatasaray SK by a 5-1 result on Thursday evening at Deutsche Bank Park.
Toppmöller praised the performance of his side, stating, “Yesterday [against Galatasaray] was a match that we needed for our development. The players exceeded their own expectations, we achieved a lot. It was the first step into the Champions League and, for many of them, the first game there.”
It should be mentioned that twelve of Frankfurt’s players made their career debuts in the UEFA Champions League (Bahoya, Brown, Burkardt, Chaïbi, Collins, Dōan, Koch, Larsson, Shkiri, Theate, Uzun, Zetterer).
As for the Bundesliga campaign, the club defeated SV Werder Bremen by a 4-1 result in the opening week of the season, following it with a 3-1 victory in Sinsheim against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. Despite their opposition, Bayer 04 Leverkusen, going down to nine men in the third matchweek, they lost by a 1-3 result in Kasper Hjulmand’s competitive debut as coach of Die Werkself.
Regarding the squad selection for the match, Toppmöller made it known in the press conference on Friday afternoon that the starting eleven might rotate – including the goalkeeping selection, as Kauã Santos might get a chance to impress.
“We will see who will be in goal on Sunday. Robin Koch also played well yesterday – he gritted his teeth. There will definitely be some personnel changes on Sunday,” the 44-year-old coach said. “How many there will be in the end, we will have to wait and see after training and discussions tomorrow. It will be all about staying fresh against a hard-working opponent.”
Regarding the situation of Mario Götze, who has been dealing with muscle issues, Toppmöller said: “I am in good contact with Mario Götze, he is dealing with the situation completely openly and he is putting himself at the service of the team. If he is not ready tomorrow, he will communicate that to me.”
Team News
As mentioned above, attacking midfielder Mario Götze (thigh), who can play in a variety of different positions for Frankfurt, will be out due to muscle problems in the thigh area. He is week-to-week, and whether he will be able to play on Sunday will be determined by training and checking his fitness on Saturday afternoon.
Right-back Rasmus Kristensen (hamstring), who went down with an injury in the fourth minute of last week’s defeat in Leverkusen, will be absent until the middle of October. Striker Jessic Ngankam (broken leg) is still in a lengthy recovery process, and is projected to return to the training ground around the same time as Kristensen.
Predicted XI (4-2-3-1):
Kauã Santos – Brown, Theate, Koch, Collins – Chaïbi, Larsson – Bahoya, Uzun, Dōan – Burkardt.
1. FC UNION BERLIN
1. FC Union Berlin (1-0-2, 14th), in their second season under Steffen Baumgart, have had a less fortunate start to their Bundesliga campaign – it is still early, however, and they are still within three points of Die Adler.
Die Eisernen began the year by stunning DFB-Pokal champions VfB Stuttgart 2-1, with Ilyas Ansah scoring both goals in the first half – this despite holding just 24% possession. This was followed by a 0-3 defeat to Borussia Dortmund, and a 2-4 defeat to TSG 1899 Hoffenheim in which Tom Rothe scored and was subsequently sent off eleven minutes later.
What Baumgart’s side are counting on is the fact that they were able to pick up three points the last time they were at Deutsche Bank Park. Union Berlin won the head-to-head record in the 2024/25 season, drawing the home match 1-1 with their opposition down to ten, and winning the away match 2-1 in March, with Jeong Woo-yeong’s seventy-eighth minute goal making the difference.
Like Toppmöller, Baumgart has a lot of decisions to make with his squad before the match on Sunday – something that he indicated in the press conference on Friday afternoon.
Portuguese centre-back Diogo Leite could make his season debut, but Baumgart did not state anything that pointed to a certain decision. Additionally, Hungarian midfielder András Schäfer missed the recent international window as well as the match against Hoffenheim due to a muscle injury, and is not guaranteed to be starting this weekend.
“Andras and Diogo have trained – we will make the decision tomorrow as to whether they will make the squad,” Baumgart said. “If so, then they are obviously very good options, especially for the starting eleven. We are keeping everything open; there are also one or two other possibilities that we are still considering.”
When asked how the formation would work if Leite were not to make the eleven, Baumgart stated, “Alex Král would be the first option at centre-back in our three-man defense. Leopold Querfeld would move to left-back”. Král has played a total of 119 minutes for Union Berlin this season, only making the starting eleven in the match against Borussia Dortmund; Querfeld started at centre-back in all three of their matches so far.
Team News
Union Berlin’s injury list is currently at five players. However, four of the players are expected to return by the start of next month.
These are defender Andrik Markgraf (knock), centre-back Stanley N’Soki (thigh), central midfielder András Schäfer (muscle), and winger Livan Burcu (ankle) – all of these players are projected to return to training by the end of the fifth matchweek.
Right-back Josip Juranović, who picked up an injury in the sixth minute of the victory against Stuttgart, will be out until the end of the seventh matchweek at the latest; he could ultimately return for the match against Borussia Mönchengladbach on Friday, 17 October at the earliest.
Predicted XI (3-4-2-1):
Rønnow – Leite, Querfeld, Doekhi – Skov, Haberer, Khedira, Trimmel – Ansah, Burke – Ilić.
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