1. FSV Mainz 05 will take on TSG Hoffenheim in a friendly before the Bundesliga restarts...

“The transfer to Union is a massive chance for me,” said Sven Michel on his arrival. “The talks with Oliver Ruhnert and coach Urs Fischer also convinced me that they are working with a concrete plan here. That is important to me and I’m convinced that I can help this team.”

In the build-up to the fixture, Raphinha has selected Real Madrid legend Casemiro as the Man Utd player he’d like to sign if he could bring one star to join him at Barcelona.

If they win, it would be the club’s first title hat-trick since the introduction of the Junior Bundesliga in 2003 and the BVB youngsters would add another chapter to the exciting success story that is “Borussia Dortmund and the German A-Junior Championship”. The Dortmund youngsters have won the trophy nine times, reaching the final 10 times in total. Only VfB Stuttgart, who have won the title 10 times and reached the final 15 times, are above BVB in the all-time table. FC Schalke 04 are some distance behind in third place (four titles).

U21 European Championship: Koné wins, a draw for Netz Manu Koné and the France U21 national...

Gottschalk’s first impression was that Bundesliga teams in Europe this season were iffy following narrow wins for both Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund over a Kylian Mbappé-less Paris Saint-Germain and a disorderly Chelsea FC, respectively. RB Leipzig then clawed back to a 1-1 draw with Manchester City while Eintracht Frankfurt fell 2-0 to Napoli. In the Champions League, German teams have two wins, one draw, and one loss whereas English teams have a record of three losses (Liverpool FC, Chelsea, and Tottenham Hotspur), and one draw (Man City).

All you need to know about RBL’s new attacking all-rounder | Backheel specialist and Austria’s youngest European Championship goalscorer