Which Bundesliga teams are competing for a place in Europe next season?
With only three 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…
Bayern Munich
Position: 1st (automatic Champions League qualification)
Points: 51 (20 games)
Goal difference: +56 (74:18)
Next fixture: Hoffenheim (h)
Fifteen points clear of fifth-placed Bayer Leverkusen, 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 over 30 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.
Borussia Dortmund
Position: 2nd (automatic Champions League qualification)
Points: 48 (21 games)
Goal difference: +23 (43:20)
Next fixture: Mainz (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.
Still on the coat-tails of leaders Bayern, Borussia currently hold a 12-point cushion over fifth spot, although they still have to face fellow top-four hopefuls Leipzig, VfB Stuttgart and Hoffenheim away from home.
If Die Schwarz-Gelben can make it through those fixtures unscathed, an automatic place in next season’s Champions League league phase should be theirs.
Hoffenheim
Position: 3rd (automatic Champions league qualification)
Points: 42 (20 games)
Goal difference: +20 (43:23)
Next fixture: Bayern Munich (a)
Hoffenheim have been on a remarkable run of form under Christian Ilzer, collecting more points than any other Bundesliga side since Matchday 6 - including Bayern.
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 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.
VfB Stuttgart
Position: 4th (automatic Champions League qualification)
Points: 39 (21 games)
Goal difference: +10 (38:28)
Next fixture: Cologne (h)
The reigning 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 knockout stage play-offs 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 - Die Schwaben will take some stopping in the race for the top four.
Watch: Stuttgart beat Freiburg to boost top-four hopes
Bayer Leverkusen
Position: 5th (automatic Europa League qualification)
Points: 36 (20 games)
Goal difference: +12 (39:27)
Next fixture: St. Pauli (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 Bayern, Dortmund, Stuttgart and Hoffenheim since early November, with a 3-1 victory at Leipzig their only win over a top-four rival in that time.
Crucially, though, Leverkusen still have a game in hand over the teams around them. Their Matchday 17 clash at Hamburg, which was due to be held in mid-January but was postponed due to adverse weather conditions, is now set to take place on Wednesday 4 March.
RB Leipzig
Position: 6th (qualification for the Conference League play-off round)
Points: 36 (20 games)
Goal difference: +11 (38:27)
Next fixture: Cologne (a)
Leipzig were fourth at the halfway point of the season but have paid the price for some patchy form since mid-December.
However, despite losing to Union Berlin, Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern and Mainz in the last two months, Ole Werner’s team remain hot on the heels of fourth-placed Stuttgart.
Die Rotten Bullen missed out on Europe for the first time in their history last term, but a return to continental competition - in one form or another - appears firmly within their grasp.
Freiburg
Position: 7th
Points: 30 (21 games)
Goal difference: -1 (32:33)
Next fixture: Hertha Berlin (a)
Freiburg are through to the last 16 of this season’s Europa League, 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 league play-off round.
Eintracht Frankfurt
Position: 8th
Points: 28 (21 games)
Goal difference: -5 (41:46)
Next fixture: Borussia Mönchengladbach (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 and Hoffenheim have found the net more often than the Eagles this term, but one of Riera’s first priorities will be shoring up a defence that has shipped more goals than any other Bundesliga side save Heidenheim this season.
If Riera can fix their back line, Eintracht could start climbing the table very quickly.
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