Bundesliga’s managerial carousel ready to spin before dramatic penultimate day | Andy Brassell

Not the end, perhaps, but certainly the denouement. After the penultimate weekend of the Bundesliga season some big issues remain open; the confirmation of the fourth team to qualify for the Champions League, who will be the two teams to drop to the second tier and which side will get a two-legged opportunity to reprieve themselves.

Yet the German game is nothing if not reliably businesslike in getting some of next season’s key parameters set before the current exercise is done. There was no need for official announcements here, though, with the results doing the explaining for us. Or, in a few cases, the performances. There has been considerable doubt, for example, whether Kasper Hjulmand would continue as Bayer Leverkusen coach next season. Now, there is none.

His team had bought themselves what looked like a reprieve with last week’s win over RB Leipzig and when Aleix García gave Leverkusen the lead 34 seconds into Saturday’s visit to Stuttgart, it felt as if they were grabbing the moment with both hands. Instead, it was the last time it felt as if Leverkusen’s heads were above water. Ermedin Demirovic equalised before there were five minutes on the clock and from there it was a monsoon. Maximilian Mittelstädt’s penalty (the result of some confused defending) and Deniz Undav’s second-half goal led to the home side’s eventual 3-1 win, which was flattering to Leverkusen. It could have been a rout, and there was not the merest smidgeon of doubt that Stuttgart deserved to take Die Werkself’s place in the top four.

This was not a setback or even a body blow. For Leverkusen it was a full stop and an acknowledgement that even if a miracle should transpire on the final day – they could still make the top four but would need to beat Hamburg and have both Stuttgart and Hoffenheim lose at Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Mönchengladbach respectively – the torpor of 2026 means a new direction is required. Hjulmand deserves some sympathy, having initially done well to salvage a season from the mess left to him after three competitive games by Erik ten Hag, but in 2026 results have been inconsistent and performances often frighteningly poor. Stuttgart grasping their opportunity means that the right team is likely to capture fourth spot. They have again been excellent under Sebastian Hoeness and if Leverkusen’s display was their sorry second half the season in microcosm, Stuttgart’s was their wit, strength and enterprise distilled into a single afternoon.

Stuttgart still have to go to Frankfurt and get a result but one would heavily back them to do just that, with the two dugouts harnessing perhaps the most bulletproof coach in the Bundesliga in Hoeness and the one under the greatest threat of swift removal. Albert Riera, like Hjulmand, inherited a far from ideal situation with the season already underway and has also been trying to extract the bare minimum from it which, now, is seventh spot and a European place. Like Hjulmand and Leverkusen, it will be out of Frankfurt’s hands on the final day; they have to win and hope for a slip-up from Freiburg, who will hope to secure a route to Europe for next season against Leipzig regardless of the result of their Europa League final against Aston Villa.

Albert Riera, the former Espanyol and Liverpool winger, joined Eintracht Frankfurt as head coach in January. Photograph: Martin Meissner/AP

Riera’s team have already benefitted from some Freiburg’s faltering. After Thursday night’s joyous celebrations at Europa-Park following their semi-final win over Braga, Julian Schuster and his Freiburg team could have sealed seventh by winning at Hamburg on Sunday but went down 3-2. Whether Frankfurt will be able to take advantage of any door opened to them is, however, debatable. They led in the first half of Friday night’s game at Borussia Dortmund but eventually also ended up on the wrong end of a 3-2 scoreline and even if Jonathan Burkhardt’s late goal for the visitors was a consolation for the visitors, it felt significant in underlining exactly where Eintracht are.

After Burkhardt’s near-post finish he retrieved the ball from the net and, running back to the halfway line, appeared to put his index finger briefly to his lips and then point towards the touchline, where Riera stood looking unimpressed. Last week, the coach had ripped into collected media over six minutes of an uninterrupted tiradethat was based on what he judged a mis-reporting of words that he and his Germany striker had exchanged. Burkhardt’s finger hinted at the player’s view of it.

The German media’s is clear. “If Eintracht still manages to finish in seventh place, nobody will care,” wrote Kicker’s Moritz Kreilinger. “Riera will certainly try to claim it as his own achievement. And if it doesn’t work out? Then, in typical Riera fashion, he’ll probably tell everyone one last time how great his work is, how fantastic the team atmosphere is, and at least indirectly blame Frankfurt’s failure on his predecessors.” Riera has burned every bridge with his audience in a way that few do, and his ambitious and progressive club are well aware of this. Markus Krösche, Eintracht’s sporting director, gave a terse “yes” when questioned by ZDF on whether Riera would be in place for the finale next week. He didn’t speak with the demeanour of a man who felt he had other options.

At Augsburg, though, things are more positive. After their win over Gladbach – whose coach Eugen Polanski, despite having a contract valid for next season, is likely to be on his way given their crawl to safety – they are level on points with Eintracht and just one behind Freiburg, perfectly placed to snatch an astonishing European qualification should the two above them stumble. Manuel Baum, back at Augsburg for a second (interim) spell in charge, took over from Sandro Wagner in December with the team bottom with just 13 points. Now Baum, enjoying huge support in the dressing room, surely has to stay on. “It’s absolutely incredible what we’ve managed in recent weeks,” enthused sporting director Benjamin Weber.

There is plenty of drama left in the season, but the direction of travel for 2026-27 is largely set.

Talking points

• Despite their season being teffeectively over after their agonising Champions League exit to Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern played their part in setting up this edge-of-the-seat final day, winning 1-0 at Wolfsburg despite Harry Kane missing a first-ever Bundesliga penalty (in no small part due to Jeanuël Belocian sneakily damaging the penalty spot, undetected). Michael Olise then scored a stunning winner after Jonas Urbig performed excellently to keep the strugglers at bay.

• Die Wölfe might eventually be grateful for keeping the score down; after resurgent Heidenheim’s 3-1 win at now-safe Köln. That means the bottom three of Wolfsburg, Heidenheim and St Pauli (who lost at Leipzig, with the Saxony club sealing third place) are all on 26 points and only three apart in goal difference. Wolfsburg actually travel to St Pauli while Heidenheim host Mainz, with two automatic relegation spots and a place in the playoff to be decided.

• Dortmund’s Friday night was full of farewells, to Julian Brandt (with his potential successor Samuele Inacio scoring a debut goal), the retiring Niklas Süle and ex-sporting director Sebastian Kehl all saying goodbye. Marie-Louise Eta will get the chance to do the same to the Union Berlin first team next week at home to Augsburg with a first win under her belt, sealed in the closing minutes at Mainz.