Freiburg staying the course in extraordinary season
Along with runaway Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munch, Freiburg are the only German team still competing on three fronts at the business end of 2025/26.
Increasingly accustomed to fairy-tale runs befitting their Black Forest home, Freiburg are once again in the mix for European qualification via their Bundesliga standing. The top-six sides as a minimum will punch a ticket to continental competition - but Julian Schuster's team might not need one.
That's because Die Breisgauer are through to the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals, where Spain's Celta Vigo await, and have a DFB Cup semi-final against holders VfB Stuttgart still to come. Silverware in either of those would secure the amiable Badem-Württemberg outfit a fourth continental campaign in six years - potentially a first in the UEFA Champions League.
Freiburg are also in rude health off the pitch. Membership in the club has doubled in the space of just eight years to 80,000; they're sixth among Bundesliga clubs for television revenue distribution; and their Europa-Park stadium, which opened in 2021, is leading the way for sustainability with its climate-neutral capabilities.
For some, it's all a natural progression for a team that has finished fifth in the Bundesliga twice in the last three seasons - but it's easy to forget they were also playing Bundesliga 2 football as recently as 2015/16. Even though they bounced back at the first time of asking under legendary former coach Christian Streich, few would have expected them to perform so consistently upon their return, with only three botton-half finishes over the last nine years.
Watch: Christian Streich - a Freiburg great
Freiburg's performances this season are even more impressive, after 12 era-defining years of Streich.
Former Freiburg player Schuster lost his first two Bundesliga games as head coach, but his team currently sit eighth in the Bundesliga, with seven rounds of fixtures remaining.
Progress to the cup semis for the third time in five years was relatively smooth, until the penalty shoutout win over Bundesliga 2's Hertha Berlin in the previous round. And that same fighting spirit was scarcely more pronounced as Vincenzo Grifo & Co. overturned a 1-0 first-leg deficit to thump Belgium's Genk 5-1 on aggregate in the Europa League round of 16.
Although Grifo's second-leg goal against Genk made him Freiburg's all-time leading goalscorer, no single player took centre stage on perhaps the most famous night in the club's history. The performance - like so much of the team's successes in recent years - was built on collective spirit.
Together, Freiburg will go forth and attempt to conquer all-comers in their pursuit of the club's first major trophy. Schuster's band of brothers will do so in the role of underdogs - just as they were on their way to the 2021/22 DFB Cup final - but not a single opposition team will take them lightly.
A Bundesliga meeting with Bayern will provide the next indication of their credentials when the domestic action resumes after the March international break, ahead of a decisive few weeks in the Europa League and DFB Cup. If all goes to plan, Bayern won't be the only Bundesliga club lifting silverware at the end of the season.
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