Which Bundesliga teams are competing for a place in Europe next season?
With a little over two months of the 2025/26 Bundesliga campaign left to play, the race for the European places is hotting up.
Bayern Munich are already closing in on a place in the UEFA Champions League next season, but several other clubs are intent on joining Germany’s record champions at Europe’s top table via a top-four finish.
UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League spots are also at stake, with seventh place potentially enough to secure continental football in 2026/27.
So which teams are involved? We have the lowdown on the contenders…
How does European qualification work in Germany?
Club: Bayern Munich
Position: 1st (automatic Champions League qualification)
Points: 66 (25 games)
Goal difference: +68 (92-24)
Next fixture: Bayer Leverkusen (a)
Nineteen points clear of fifth-placed RB Leipzig, Bayern’s place in Europe’s premier club competition next season is all but assured.
Vincent Kompany’s side have dropped only nine Bundesliga points this term, scoring nearly 40 more goals and conceding fewer than any other team in the division.
It would take a quite remarkable drop in form for the Bavarians to surrender their place at the division’s summit, let alone a top-four berth.
Club: Borussia Dortmund
Position: 2nd (automatic Champions League qualification)
Points: 55 (25 games)
Goal difference: +27 (53-26)
Next fixture: Augsburg (h)
Dortmund sneaked into the Champions League places on a dramatic final day last season, but Niko Kovač’s charges look set for a much more comfortable end to the current campaign.
Borussia currently hold an eight-point cushion over fifth spot, although they still have to face fellow top-four hopefuls Stuttgart and Hoffenheim away from home.
If Die Schwarzgelben can make it through those fixtures unscathed, a place in next season’s Champions League league phase should be theirs.
Club: Hoffenheim
Position: 3rd (automatic Champions league qualification)
Points: 49 (25 games)
Goal difference: +20 (53-33)
Next fixture: Wolfsburg (h)
Hoffenheim have managed to carry their remarkable form under Christian Ilzer into 2026, with only Dortmund and Bayern collecting more points since the turn of the year.
The Sinsheim club’s only previous appearance in the Champions League proper came in 2018/19, when they were eliminated from a group containing Manchester City, Lyon and Shakhtar Donetsk.
Having missed out on Europe altogether and only narrowly avoided relegation last season, a return to continental competition is Hoffenheim’s to lose. A place at Europe’s top table also appears to be theirs for the taking.
Club: Stuttgart
Position: 4th (automatic Champions League qualification)
Points: 47 (25 games)
Goal difference: +16 (50-34)
Next fixture: RB Leipzig (h)
The DFB Cup holders are well positioned to clinch a place in Europe for the third season running.
Having competed in the inaugural league phase of the Champions League last term, Sebastian Hoeneß’s side have managed to secure a spot in the last 16 of this season’s Europa League, but they have every reason to be aiming even higher in 2026/27.
Despite losing to St. Pauli on Matchday 21 - a result that ended an unbeaten league run that stretched back to Matchday 13 - the Swabians will take some stopping in the race for the top four, while they are also in the semi-finals of the DFB Cup.
Club: RB Leipzig
Position: 5th (automatic Europa League qualification)
Points: 47 (25 games)
Goal difference: +14 (48-34)
Next fixture: Stuttgart (a)
Die Roten Bullen missed out on Europe for the first time in their top-flight history last term, but a return to continental competition - in one form or another - appears firmly within their grasp.
A run of four defeats in seven league games saw Ole Werner’s team drop down the table in January, but a 2-1 victory over Augsburg on Matchday 25 stretched Leipzig’s unbeaten run to five games and left them level on points with fourth-placed Stuttgart.
Club: Bayer Leverkusen
Position: 6th (Conference League play-offs)
Points: 44 (25 games)
Goal difference: +16 (48-32)
Next fixture: Bayern Munich (h)
After a strong start under Kasper Hjulmand, Leverkusen too have been striving for consistency in Germany’s top flight.
Die Werkself have been beaten by Stuttgart, Hoffenheim and Union Berlin since January, with December’s 3-1 victory at Leipzig their last win over a top-four rival.
Their rescheduled Matchday 17 clash with Hamburg saw them earn a valuable victory against Merlin Polzin’s men, but they dropped two valuable points in a captivating 3-3 draw away to Freiburg on Matchday 25.
Club: Eintracht Frankfurt
Position: 7th
Points: 35 (25 games)
Goal difference: -1 (48-49)
Next fixture: Heidenheim (h)
Third last season, Frankfurt have struggled since the turn of the year but now have the chance to turn over a new leaf under recently appointed head coach Albert Riera.
Only Bayern, Dortmund, Hoffenheim and Stuttgart have found the net more often than the Eagles this term, while Riera appears to have shored up a defence that had conceded a worrying 45 league goals prior to his arrival.
Eintracht secured their first win under the Spaniard against Borussia Mönchengladbach on Matchday 22, plus a first clean sheet since December. They recorded another impressive home win against Freiburg on Matchday 24 before holding improving St. Pauli to a goalless draw a week later.
Club: Freiburg
Position: 8th
Points: 34 (25 games)
Goal difference: -5 (37-42)
Next fixture: Union Berlin (h)
Freiburg are through to the last 16 of this season’s Europa League and the final four of the DFB Cup, but Julian Schuster’s side have a fight on their hands to secure back-to-back top-six finishes in Germany’s top flight.
The Black Forest club have not lost at the Europa-Park Stadion since the opening weekend of the campaign, but with only two wins on their travels so far, Schuster and his players will be eager to rectify their away form at the earliest opportunity.
There is still a possibility that seventh place will be enough to secure European football next season. If the 2025/26 DFB Cup winners finish in the Bundesliga’s top six, the team in seventh spot will qualify for the Conference League play-off round.
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