Live from 3 p.m. - Mainz welcomes newly promoted Cologne

For both teams, the big question is what will happen upfront after the departure of their top scorers. Mainz lost Jonathan Burkardt, the top German scorer of the 2024/25 Bundesliga season (18 goals), to Eintracht Frankfurt. 1. FC Köln, meanwhile, lost Damion Downs and Tim Lemperle (ten goals each), the two top scorers of the past second division season.

The Cologne team, under Łukasz Kwasniok, played in the DFB Cup against Regensburg and avoided the humiliation with two late goals in stoppage time. Compared to the 2-1 away win in Upper Palatinate, the Effzeh coach made four changes: Kristoffer Lund, Eric Martel, and Jan Thielmann replaced Luca Waldschmidt (bench), Linton Maina, and Cenk Özkaçar (both not in the squad). Marvin Schwäbe also started in goal, replacing Ron-Robert Zieler (bench).

The Rhineland-Palatinate side are hoping to advance to the Conference League stage, but suffered a minor setback in the playoffs on Thursday evening, losing 2-1 to Rosenborg Trondheim. Coach Bo Henriksen, however, makes only one change to his starting lineup: Andreas Hanche-Olsen replaces Stefan Bell (bench).

After being promoted straight back to the top flight of German football, Effzeh are back in the top flight and are eager to start with a win. After six Bundesliga promotions, the Billy Goats have only managed a single opening victory (one draw, four losses). Their opponent that time, however, was Mainz, of all teams, even though it was a Cologne home game in the 2005/06 season (1-0).

Good afternoon and welcome from the Mewa Arena. 1. FSV Mainz 05 will host 1. FC Köln today at 3:30 p.m. on the first matchday of the Bundesliga.