Lowly Werder Bremen and Cologne could really used the points on Bundesliga Matchday 29 - © IMAGO/BEAUTIFUL SPORTS/Tonhäuser

bundesliga

Crunch time in the relegation battle: Why Cologne vs. Werder Bremen is a crucial match

07.04.2026

Cologne (27 points) and Werder Bremen (28 points) sit 15th and 14th in the table, precariously close to 16th-placed St. Pauli (25 points), ahead of their Matchday 29 relegation six-pointer at the RheinEnergieStadion.

Cologne will be desperate to avoid an immediate return to Bundesliga 2 having won the division in 2024/25, while Bremen would be equally devastated by relegation after being in contention for European qualification in the past couple of seasons.

The Billy Goats will have home advantage for this business-end encounter, or will they? They’ve won just four of 14 games on home turf so far this campaign, drawing four and losing six.

Home or away, the Rhineland club are also winless in eight games, with their last three all finishing in draws.

That said, Cologne have faced RB Leipzig, Borussia Dortmund, TSG Hoffenheim and Eintracht Frankfurt in recent weeks - all teams in the top seven.

And they showed real spirit to hit back from 2-0 down to draw with Frankfurt in interim coach René Wagner's first game following Lukas Kwasniok's dismissal.

Watch: Cologne drew in Frankfurt last weekend

Werder have experienced a more pronounced uptick after a change in coach. They lost their first three under Daniel Thioune, before recording back-to-back wins over over Heidenheim (2-0) and Union Berlin (4-1). Defeat to Mainz (1-0) was something of a setback, but the Green-Whites recovered to down free-falling Wolfsburg (1-0).

Three of their four other losses since Horst Steffen was let go came against top-eight teams (Freiburg, Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig).

"It’s important to have someone who’s resolute, who can lead, who has conviction and can also add something himself. Maybe also framing it all differently, not saying it’s a 'relegation battle', because that’s fighting 'against' something. We want to fight 'for' something, which is to stay up," Thioune told the Bundesliga before the March international break.

"I think we’re doing that quite well, taking every game one game at a time. You need to do that in a relegation battle, setting yourself little goals so you can achieve big goals."

Watch: Bremen edge Wolfsburg

Bremen's four-game unbeaten run in meetings with Cologne stands them in decent stead to hit their next objective. However, they have only won one of their last 10 in the Cathedral City, setting up an intriguing basement battle.

With seven Bundesliga titles and 10 DFB Cups between the clubs, each team will be desperate to remain in the division and give themselves a chance of creating more history in the future.

And they'll both know what an opportunity the game is in terms of putting daylight between themselves and the bottom three, especially with relegation play-off spot incumbents Pauli facing runaway league leaders Bayern Munich this weekend.