Talking Fussball

It's not often that news about a boardroom-level figure takes over the football conversation in Germany, but Hertha BSC President Kay Bernstein's untimely death hit the game hard. Nik invites TF's resident Hertha-head Matt on to talk about what legacy the ultra turned head man might leave behind. Maik, meanwhile, helps explain why a fan group in Glasgow is exposing a political rift within the FC St. Pauli community.

The Winterpause is a thing of the past - Germany's top flight sides got back to business this past weekend, and more than a few clubs gave debuts to newcomers who came in through the open transfer window. Nik and Terry run through all the most interesting moves, as well as take a moment to remember Germany's biggest football icon, the late Franz Beckenbauer.

The season is only half done in the 2. Liga, but it's already been a wild ride. After weeks and weeks on top, FC St. Pauli surrendered the Herbstmeisterschaft to Holstein Kiel, and multiple teams have seen their fotunes change drastically in the space of a couple of months. Nik sits down with Jasmine to talk over the biggest storylines form the Hinrunde, as well as tell you about which players have proven their worth most richly as we head into the Winterpause.

When Germany's most engaged football fans speak in near-unison, as they did on MD15, it's time to listen up. Matt and Nik look to unpack ultras' concerns about the DFL's decision to seek a strategic investor to help them keep pace with the Premier League's skyrocketing media rights valuations. Heading into the final round before the Winterpause, Leverkusen, Bayern and Leipzig each notched big wins, but BVB were the latest side to encounter tougher-than-expected going in Augsburg. Marie Schulte-Bockum returns to the pod to fill us in on what's got FCA going so strong.

Coming off a 2. Bundesliga-tastic round in the DFB Pokal, it feels appropriate to zoom in on Hertha Berlin and Hamburger Sport-Verein, two teams that squared off in an instant classic. Winners in that match, Hertha are beginning to look like a side that could scale a few rungs higher in the league. HSV, meanwhile, are going off the boil. Nik and Jasmine talk through these storylines (especially the latter), as well as bring you up to speed on stories from the lower leagues.

The end of the Hinrunde is drawing nearer and it's looking ever more likely that Bayer 04 Leverkusen will stay on top of the league for the winter. That's mostly down to them still not having lost a single game, but at least this weekend they can thank the weather too. With Munich buried in snow, FC Bayern didn't manage to get their game against 1. FC Union Berlin in on Match Day 13, which meant the pharmaceuticals' home draw with Borussia Dortmund didn't cost them first place - at least not yet. Matt, Nik and Terry chat about that big clash, set up a few games to watch in the DFB Pokal this week, and chew the fat about the goings on in the Bundesliga.

With their win away to Hansa Rostock on match day 14, FC St. Pauli are sitting pretty on top of the 2. Bundesliga for a seventh straight week. That suits our Maik just fine, of course, but he, Nik and Jasmine know that the stakes of Friday's big Hamburg city derby against HSV are still massive. The gang also takes a look at Tobias Schweinsteiger's exit from VfL Osnabrück, a scary incident in Dresden, and more from the lower leagues.

Over the past five years, sometimes it's felt like 1. FC Union Berlin could only go up. The Köpenickers' rise from little-club-that-could to European contender has been among the best in world football over that span, but now it's come to an end after Urs Fischer, the coach who took them from the 2. Bundesliga to the UEFA Champions League, decided they'd be better off without him. For a little insight on how it all went down, Matt turns to Kit Holden, who covers the Irons for Berlin's Tagesspiegel newspaper, as well as talks it out with Nik and Terry. They also get into what might be ailing the suddenly lame Borussia Dortmund and investor talk swirling around Werder Bremen and the league as a whole.

FC St. Pauli continued to set the pace in the 2. Bundesliga on MD13, even as they slumped to a 0-0 draw at home to the rising Hannover 96. But enough about the result, the real story at the Millerntor was the Polizeieinsatz, which felt to many like an overreaction. Nik and Maik talk that incident over, try and figure out what's gotten into two of the 2. Liga's newly-promoted sides, and much more from the lower divisions.

As you might have heard, FC Bayern München went to Dortmund and took their hosts BVB apart...but that's the way the Klassiker seems to go in recent years. Nik and Terry dig into that and other stories, including a tempestuous week for Mainz 05 that ended with a win, Cologne's persisting troubles, coming changes at the top for Werder Bremen and more.