All information accurate as of August 21st, 2026.
Club Name: SC Freiburg
Founded: 1904Previewing the Bundesliga - Part 13/18: SC Freiburg
Stadium: Europa-Park Stadion
Nickname: Die Breisgau-Brasilianer (The Breisgau-Brazilians)
Titles: No major titles. DFB-Pokal runners-up x1, UEFA Cup/Europa League runners-up x1
Head Coach: Julian Schuster
Captain: Christian Günter
Mascot: Füchsle the Fox
Goal Song: Hermes House Band – I Will Survive
2025/26 Season: 7th
Opening Fixture: Bremen (H)
A club known for its lack of managerial and player turnover, Julian Schuster enters his third season as Head Coach, achieving finishes of 5th and 7th in the Bundesliga so far. Having started his playing career at VfB Stuttgart, the biggest team in the Baden-Württemberg region, Schuster moved just down the road to Freiburg im Breisgau in 2008 and has remained there ever since.
Upon retirement in 2018, he joined Christian Streich’s backroom staff, eventually moving up to become his assistant coach, and effectively inheriting the role of Head Coach when Streich stepped down in 2024. While 18 years at one club sounds like a lot, Streich had served as a player, coach and manager continuously from 1991 until his resignation, so Schuster still has 15 years to go if he wants to catch up.
Off the pitch, Schuster embodies a continuation of Streich’s legacy by collaborating closely with his coaches during matches and keeping a level-headed approach with his man management. Freiburg as a whole do not suffer fools gladly. Think of Thomas Frank and his “No D**kheads” policy (which he took from the All Blacks but I digress), and you’ll understand why Freiburg have always had two-way loyalty with their players.
On the pitch, however, Schuster has moulded this Freiburg side in his own identity. They press far more aggressively than ever before, and in an extremely disciplined man-to-man fashion that suffocates opponents. They don’t mind not having the ball for long spells, so long as it stays far away from their defensive third. They have also not been over-reliant on one individual for goals, with their top scorers usually scoring nine or ten per season. Vincenzo Grifo managed 15 a few years ago, although seven were penalties. Don’t be surprised to see them high up on the xG from set-pieces metric, either - last season they scored 13 goals from 140 corners (9.29%), the second highest conversion rate Europe’s top five leagues according to Sportradar data.
Still awaiting their first major trophy, this season could finally be the one. Despite a tough 3:0 defeat to Aston Villa in the Europa League final in Istanbul, Schuster and the fans were never prouder of the players. By finishing 7th, they qualified for the Conference League this season, and enter it as one of the strongest teams without question.
We’ll get the big one out of the way first. Swiss starboy Johan Manzambi has moved to Aston Villa for €60m, potentially rising to €70m with add-ons, which sounds like a significant sum for a player with 18 months of senior football, but only to those who haven’t seen much of him. I wrote a piece recently on why he’s a fantastic investment for Villa in case you want to learn more. But as an academy player, this gives Freiburg a full €60m to play around with.
Their major outlay is the acquisition of 22-year-old goalkeeper Mio Backhaus from Werder Bremen for an undisclosed fee but reportedly around €15m. The club viewed bringing him in as a priority as it seemed like starting keeper Noah Atubolu was on his way out, however a deal hasn’t materialised for him yet. At just 24, Atubolu is viewed as a potential first-choice for Germany in the near future, and talks have been held with Marseille and Napoli according to Goal.com. If Atubolu stays, however, Backhaus finds himself in quite a pickle.
Additional deals have been struck with Como for €7m midfielder Yannik Engelhardt, and a Japanese duo from the Belgian league – Anderlecht striker Keisuke Goto for €10m and Sint-Truiden midfielder Rihito Yamamoto for €7m.
The only other key transfer is the confirmation of Merlin Röhl’s permanent move to Everton, having spent last year on loan in Merseyside. The midfielder turned a few heads in the Premier League, making the €25m obligation to buy transition from being a better deal for Freiburg a year ago to being a much better deal for Everton now.
With Manzambi now gone, and Grifo getting on a bit at 33, the focus for Schuster will need to be on the collective more than ever.
One of their better and more consistent players, though, is Philipp Lienhart. The Austrian centre-back recently turned 30, and has been a starter for Freiburg so long as he’s been fit since making his loan from Real Madrid permanent in 2018. A stalwart that has become a leader on and off the pitch during his time at the club, he is indispensable and his partnership with Matthias Ginter at the back is one of the stronger pairings in the league.
His duel success rate of 65.2% last season was amongst the best in the league. He displays calmness on the ball too, achieving a 90.3% pass completion rate, which is solid for a team that isn’t hellbent on keeping possession and building from deep.
Keep an eye out for the new signing Keisuke Goto, still only 21, who will have to break in to the team but could easily dislodge Igor Matanović during the course of the season.
With two new holding midfielders joining the ranks, there will be some strong competition for Maximilian Eggestein and Patrick Osterhage to contend with. It will also be interesting to see if Grifo remains in the starting line-up, as he struggles to press with the intensity of his younger teammates. If Atubolu stays, then he will start, but it’s clear that the club is preparing for Backhaus to inherit the position either way.
While it may seem harsh on the face of it, I have Freiburg dropping down to 9th this season. With a huge Conference League campaign coming up, including the second leg of their playoff on Thursday 27th, their league form is likely to suffer if they have a deep run in Europe. Schuster did well to have Freiburg on the verge of Champions League qualification in 2024/25, but this was an overperformance and I think they are beginning to regress to the mean, which for this club is mid-table.
1 - Bayern München
2 - Borussia Dortmund
3 - Bayer Leverkusen
4 - Eintracht Frankfurt
5 - RB Leipzig
6 -
7 -
8 - Union Berlin
9 - Freiburg
10 - Schalke
11 - Mainz
12 -
13 - Hamburg
14 - Augsburg
15 - Borussia Mönchengladbach
16 -
17 - Köln
18 -
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