All information accurate as of August 16th, 2026.
Club Name: FC Augsburg
Founded: 1907
Stadium: WWK Arena – 30,660 capacity
Nickname: Die Fuggerstädter (The Fugger City Residents – Augsburg was developed under the ruling House of Fugger)
Titles: No major titles
Head Coach: Manuel Baum
Captain: Jeffrey Gouweleeuw
Mascot: None – instead, the captain presents a puppet to the opponent in honour of the Augsburger Puppenkiste
Goal Song: Die Augsburger Puppenkiste – Eine Insel mit zwei Bergen
2025/26 Season: 9th
Opening Fixture: Schalke (H)
Manuel Baum continues his second spell in charge of the Bundesliga’s representative from Swabian Bavaria, having been in charge from December 2016 to April 2019. Since then, he only has one spell as a Head Coach of a first-team side, which was with Schalke in 2020 where he won none out of ten Bundesliga games. He returned to Augsburg in December last season after a poor start under Sandro Wagner, eventually guiding the club to 9th at the end of the campaign.
Augsburg may be an established Bundesliga club today, but until 2011 it had never played in the top flight. After a high point in 2014/15, finishing 5th and embarking on a Europa League campaign with Markus Weinzierl in charge, the club spent the next ten campaigns finishing between 11th and 15th – the Crystal Palace of Germany, if you will. Last season’s 9th place was an anomaly, and I fear that Baum’s men will regress to the mean again.
Michael Gregoritsch makes his loan move from Brøndby permanent, after a successful second half of last season. His return to the club he played for between 2017 and 2022 is no coincidence with Baum’s return as Head Coach – Gregoritsch had his best goalscoring season in 2017/18 with 13 league goals under Baum. Now 32, the Austrian international only cost around €430,000.
Rodrigo Ribeiro’s loan from Sporting Club has also been made permanent, although he only scored two goals in the 14 games he featured in since January. The 21-year-old was bought for €4.3m and takes the number 9 shirt, although whether he can claim the position as his own is yet to be seen.
Other signings include two 21-year-olds - Hennes Behrens from Hoffenheim for €3m and Sima Suso from Fortuna Düsseldorf for €1.4m.
The outgoings are not hugely notable. Starting centre-back Cédric Zesiger returns to his home country of Switzerland with BSC Young Boys, with Augsburg receiving €3m for his services. Left-back Dimitris Giannoulis returns to his native Greece, signing for PAOK for €4.5m, with Behrens being his replacement. Elvis Rexhbeçaj leaves for free, dropping down to the second tier with Wolfsburg. Wingers Elias Saad and Kyliane Dong have left on loan to Nashville SC and Bolton Wanderers, respectively.
Central midfielder Fabian Rieder was signed last summer from Rennes, although he had been on loan at Stuttgart in 2024/25, and immediately showed his worth with some impressive performances. What he lacks defensively, he makes up for with his industrious work ethic and awareness while on the ball. Although Alexis Claude-Maurice is probably the most talented player from a technical standpoint, Rieder is the more versatile player that can play as an 8 or 10, or even in a wider role if needed.
Rieder has already featured 33 times for Switzerland, and aged just 24 he still has a long career ahead in the Bundesliga and with his national team. He started in the Round of 16 against Colombia and the quarter-final against Argentina and did not look out of place at that level. Augsburg need him to perform again to ensure they don’t become embroiled in any serious relegation scrap.
14th for me, Geoff. The backline needs significant improvement, and only signing a young centre-back from a team that just got relegated to the third tier is not going to be enough. Combine that with a lack of reliability amongst the available strikers, this could be a long season for Augsburg, even if they have the nicest kit in the league.
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2 - Borussia Dortmund
3 - Bayer Leverkusen
4 - Eintracht Frankfurt
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8 - Union Berlin
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11 - Mainz
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14 - Augsburg
15 - Borussia Mönchengladbach
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17 - Köln
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