Who's battling to stay up? | OneFootball

The 2024/25 relegation battle: who will escape the drop?

Union Berlin in 13th place are on the cusp of guaranteeing another season of Bundesliga football, but the Hoffenheim, St. Pauli, Heidenheim, Bochum and Holstein Kiel are all scrapping to avoid relegation to Bundesliga 2 over the final five matchdays of 2024/25.

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Union Berlin Position: 13th Points: 35 (30 games)Goals: 30-44 (-14)

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After 2023's high of securing UEFA Champions League qualification to surviving relegation by the skin of their teeth in 2024, this season was about a reset for Union. That started under Bo Svensson, with only one loss in the first eight games, but he was dismissed in winter as the club sought to arrest a worrying dip in form. Steffen Baumgart's arrival didn't spark an immediate turnaround, but a recent run of six games unbeaten, including three wins, has taken the Berliners to the verge of safety and a seventh consecutive season of top-flight football.

Hoffenheim Position: 14th Points: 30 (30 games)Goals: 38-55 (-17)

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Despite – or perhaps because of – finishing seventh in the Bundesliga last season and therefore qualifying for the UEFA Europa League, Hoffenheim have struggled for consistency this term. Christian Ilzer, who enjoyed great success as head coach of Sturm Graz in Austria, was brought in to steer the ship to calmer waters following the dismissal of Pellegrino Matarazzo after Matchday 10 in November. Even with an often lengthy injury list and turnover of players, Ilzer has plenty of quality to work with, notably Andrej Kramarić up front and the ever-improving Tom Bischof in midfield. An eight-point cushion over the bottom three is relatively comfortable, but their final four games are all against teams pushing for Europe or greater.

St. Pauli Position: 15th Points: 29 (29 games)Goals: 25-35 (-10)

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This season was expected to be a tough one for St. Pauli. A first campaign in the top flight tends to be tricky for promoted teams, but all the more so for the Boys in Brown after their Bundesliga 2-winning coach Fabian Hürzeler left to join Brighton over the summer. Alexander Blessin took over and has managed to create a solid defence - the fourth best in the division, in fact - and the ability to grind out results, fuelling hope in Hamburg of survival for the side captained by Australia international Jackson Irvine. A seven-point lead over the bottom three means their fate remains in their own hands.

Heidenheim Position: 16th Points: 22 (30 games)Goals: 32-60 (-28)

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Heidenheim, much like Hoffenheim, are perhaps victims of their own success last season. Consistently impressive displays not only earned qualification to the UEFA Conference League, they shone a spotlight on their best players, with top scorer Tim Kleindienst and top provider Jan-Niklas Beste lured away over the summer. That left head coach Frank Schmidt with a rebuilding job, all while navigating the extra workload and travel that European competition involves. A leaky defence has been the main issue over the current campaign, leaving last season's surprise package facing the very real threat of relegation danger despite talents like Paul Wanner and Budu Zivzivadze on their books. Back-to-back wins over Kiel and Wolfsburg helped them out of the automatic drop zone and into the play-off spot, but outright safety is looking unlikely. The Matchday 32 meeting with Bochum could be huge in the context of survival.

Bochum Position: 17th Points: 20 (30 games)Goals: 29-62 (-33)

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Bochum were hoping to recover from a poor start to the season when they replaced Peter Ziedler - less than four months after hiring him - for the vastly experienced Dieter Hecking. Although there wasn't a flurry of positive results, there has been plenty of battling spirit you'd expect from the club once dubbed the 'Unrelegatables'. Victories over both Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund in recent weeks prove they are more than capable of survival, if they can repeat such results in the final five weeks.

Holstein KielPosition: 18th Points: 19 (30 games)Goals: 41-71 (-30)

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The season was looking rather bleak for Kiel until a morale-boosting 5-1 win at home to Augsburg just before the winter break. “You could see what we’re capable of,” said Phil Harres, scorer of two goals in that victory. “We needed that. Obviously it makes no difference if we win 2-1 or 5-1, but it’s a fantastic psychological boost.” The top-flight debutants took that battling spirit into the new year, with a memorable 4-2 win over Borussia Dortmund, while the narrow 1-0 win over Union Berlin and 2-2 draw with VfB Stuttgart continued to provide hope, although defeat in Heidenheim saw them slip to the bottom of the table, where they are four points shy of safety going into their final games against five teams pushing for Europe.

>>> How is the race to come up to the Bundesliga unfolding?

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