2026/2027 season

Bundesliga

Team page
Bundesliga · Team page
1. FC Union Berlin
Head coach: Mauro Lustrinelli · 4-1-3-2 (onze aligné pour la 1re journée contre Francfort) ; les analyses de présaison évoquaient plutôt un 4-2-2-2, mais toutes s'accordent sur le passage d'une défense à cinq historique à une défense à quatre.
Rank
16th
Pts
5
P
6
Form
🟠 Poor

The essentials at a glance

The summary of this page: estimated level of play, form trend and qualitative verdict. For the details, head to the other tabs.

Editors' ratings
2/10
Attack
2/10
Defence
3/10
Form
2/10
Confidence / mood
Current risk:High

16th with 5 pts from 6 matches: 1 win, 2 draws, 3 defeats.

5 goals scored, 17 conceded.

The 27-year-old is back in his ancestral position. There he can play his strengths much better than on the ten.

kicker · 18 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

The performance at Union Berlin did not meet the requirements, this also applied to Jobe Bellingham.

Sportschau · 18 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

The puppies travel to extreme lands with the aim of winning again after two days without doing so, both at home: defeat to the Extremadura and tie with the Royal Union. & nbsp;

Mundo Deportivo · 18 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

There will come bad results and there the group will have to demonstrate its union and conviction to move forward. Four casualties present the Seville for their trip to the capital of Spain. The Marcao, Guridi, Miguel Sierra, Kochorashvili and Isaac are lost for punishment. Get Stassin back. In the Bernabéu not only needs a perfect plastic match, but the stars are aligned.

ABC Deportes · 18 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

How the team has played recently

Match-by-match results, record and rhythm of the current season.

Latest matches
Dvs Borussia Dortmund (H) · 0-0
Wvs SV 07 Elversberg (H) · 1-0
Lvs FC Bayern München (A) · 0-7
Lvs FC Schalke 04 (H) · 1-3
Lvs Bayer 04 Leverkusen (A) · 0-4
WDDLLL
5 scored / 17 conceded over 6 matches played
Rest: 1 day since the last match · 2 matches played in the last 15 days
Home form
1W - 2D - 1L
Away form
0W - 0D - 2L
Statistics

Computed from this season's scores, every time the page is shown.

Goals scored per match
0.4
Goals conceded per match
2.8
At home
2 scored · 3 conceded in 3 matches
Away
0 scored · 11 conceded in 2 matches
Over 2.5 goals
3 of 5
Both teams score
1 of 5
Clean sheets
2 of 5
Failed to score
3 of 5
Cumulative points vs league average

Not enough matchdays recorded yet for this curve — history builds up with every standings refresh.

How 1. FC Union Berlin play

System, playing identity, and what sets the team apart at both ends of the pitch.

Playing identity
Preferred system
4-1-3-2 (onze aligné pour la 1re journée contre Francfort) ; les analyses de présaison évoquaient plutôt un 4-2-2-2, mais toutes s'accordent sur le passage d'une défense à cinq historique à une défense à quatre.
Philosophy
Verified fact: the club presented Lustrinelli (official announcement of 21/05/2026) as a head coach wanting a more active style of play, a clear identity and the integration of young players; he has broken with the five-man defence used since the 2019 promotion.
Attacking strengths
Three goals scored in the opener against Eintracht Frankfurt (Latte Lath 3', Querfeld 79', Skarke 90+3'), after a very poor 2025-26 season (44 goals scored in 34 matches according to Wikipedia).
Defensive solidity
Most fragile department: 58 goals conceded in 2025-26 and already three conceded in the opener against Frankfurt, including two less than two minutes apart (10' and 11') as part of a Younes Ebnoutalib hat-trick.
Pressing
No verified figures at this stage of the season. The club's messaging and the Berlin press announce a higher, more intense defence with the new back four, but pre-season (3 wins in 10 friendlies) has not yet validated this intention.
Transitions
Not measurable after a single matchday. Factual observation from the opening match: Union were punished immediately after their equaliser (loss of possession from the kick-off leading to the 1-2 according to SRF) and only really made an impact at the very end of the match, by pushing higher.
StrengthMental reaction (two goals in the last eleven minutes to snatch the 3-3), set-piece efficiency noted by pre-season analyses, the fervour of the Alte Försterei, and a well-stocked defensive transfer window (Uduokhai, Nsoki, Van den Bosch, Marvin Friedrich).
WeaknessDefence still poorly coordinated, attacking department depleted by the record sale of Ilyas Ansah, uncertainty in the goalkeeping position (Rønnow returning from injury, Raab started), and ongoing adaptation to a system entirely new to the club.

The mood around the club, and who is missing

Internal climate, relationship with the supporters, and known absences before the next match.

Mood
Squad confidence
The 3-3 snatched against Eintracht Frankfurt having trailed 1-3 was a relief for the squad on Mauro Lustrinelli's debut and confirmed their effectiveness from set pieces. A poor pre-season, with three wins in ten friendlies, and the relegation predictions relayed by the Berlin press nonetheless sustain the doubt. The trip to Bayer Leverkusen, on Saturday 5 September at 15:30, comes early in an unforgiving schedule. Confidence rests above all on the mental resilience shown at the Alte Försterei.
Coach / players / board relationship
The project is run by Horst Heldt, general manager for professional football, who signed off Mauro Lustrinelli's appointment and then every summer arrival. The last of them, Kastriot Imeri, illustrates the logic chosen: signing a player who already knows the head coach to speed up the installation of the new system. The club also immediately reinvested the proceeds of the record sale of Ilyas Ansah to Hull City. No public friction between coach, board and dressing room has been reported.
Mood with the supporters
The Alte Försterei was full for the opener and the stadium was described as in “ecstasy” after Tim Skarke's stoppage-time equaliser. Supporters also re-elected Frederik Rønnow as footballer of the year, with 1,468 votes from more than 4,000 voters, a fourth consecutive award that equals the club record. Lisa Heiseler, captain of the women's team, also keeps her title with more than 60% of the vote. The main subject of public debate remains the sale of Ilyas Ansah, with no organised protest to date.
Pressure on the head coach
Pressure on Mauro Lustrinelli is low at this stage. Appointed in May 2026, he has the credit of a rebuilding project and a first result rescued in stoppage time. He is already being presented, however, as the head coach of a survival candidate by the Berlin press, a label he publicly rejects by citing his record at Thun. Kastriot Imeri's arrival, a player he knows well, gives him a further conduit in the dressing room.
Club objectives
Survival remains the stated foundation, with Mauro Lustrinelli publicly rejecting relegation-candidate status while bundesliga.com's preview refers to a return to the top half. No official numerical objective from the club could be verified. Institutionally, the week's fixture is the ordinary general meeting on 3 September, whose main agenda item is the election of the supervisory board. The club also continues to place its young players on loan, such as Oluwaseun Ogbemudia at Mannheim.
Recent internal tensions
No internal tension is reported. Ilyas Ansah's departure to Hull City was described by Mauro Lustrinelli as a sporting “loss”, with no conflict expressed, and the fee remains disputed between outlets, from €22m to €24m. The goalkeeping hierarchy has not been officially settled between Frederik Rønnow, back from injury and re-elected footballer of the year by supporters, and Matheo Raab, who started against Frankfurt. The general meeting of 3 September is the only occasion likely to bring a public debate to the surface.
Absences
InjuredStanley Nsoki — Muscle injury; around two months already missed, still without a competitive match this season.
InjuredAndrik Markgraf — Cruciate ligament rupture; a long-term absence, return undated.
InjuredOliver Burke — Achilles tendon injury sustained in pre-season; still in fitness rehabilitation.

Before kick-off

What to know before the next match: statistical form, qualitative analysis, and a computed estimate of the 1/X/2 probabilities.

Next match

FC Augsburg — 1. FC Union Berlin

AwaySaturday 24 October at 15:30Matchday 7
In 6 days. Kick-off time confirmed by the league. Paris time · football-data.org fixtures.

Prediction, odds and form of both teams →

What the press says

No preview found for this fixture. The press mostly covers the big games, and usually the day before.

Prediction
EstimateFC Augsburg — 1. FC Union Berlin
81 %
1 · FC Augsburg
11 %
X · draw
8 %
2 · 1. FC Union Berlin
In-house calculation, from this page's standings data alone: 6 matches played by FC Augsburg, 6 matches by 1. FC Union Berlin. Confidence: medium
The formula, in plain words — with this match's figures
  1. League average. 193 goals scored over 104 team-matches played (18 teams taken into account), i.e. μ = 1.86 goal scored per team per match. This is the reference point: everything that follows is expressed relative to it.
  2. Attacking and defensive strengths. Goals scored (or conceded) per match, divided by μ. 1.00 = exactly average; in defence, above 1.00 means “concedes more than average”.
    TeamGoalsRawKept
    FC Augsburg — attack16 in 6 matches1.441.22
    FC Augsburg — defence12 in 6 matches1.081.04
    1. FC Union Berlin — attack5 in 6 matches0.450.72
    1. FC Union Berlin — defence17 in 6 matches1.531.26
    The “Kept” column is the result of shrinkage towards the mean: weight = P / (P + 6), i.e. 0.50 for FC Augsburg and 0.50 for 1. FC Union Berlin. The rest of the weight goes to the league average. This is what stops a lone 5-0 from producing an attack at 3.3 times the average — and hence a 95% probability.
  3. Home advantage (γ). Measured on the league itself: 2.23 goal scored on average by the host against 1.48 by the visitor, over the 44 fixtures present in each team's last 5 matches. Raw ratio 1.51; shrunk towards 1 (weight 0.42, on the log of the ratio) then capped at 1.25 → γ = 1.19. Shrinkage goes towards 1, i.e. no advantage at all: while the sample is small, the model does not assert a home advantage it cannot measure.
  4. Venue correction, specific to each team. Drawn from the home/away split: points per match at the venue concerned are compared to points per match over all fixtures, with stronger shrinkage (weight = P / (P + 8)) and a bound of ±12%.
    FC Augsburg at home: 1.67 pts/match versus 1.33 overall over 3 matches → ×1.068
    1. FC Union Berlin away: 0.00 pts/match versus 0.83 overall over 2 matches → ×0.880
  5. Expected goals. One side's attack is set against the other's defence. γ applies to the host only: applying it the other way round too would count the home advantage twice.
    λFC Augsburg = 1.86 × 1.22 × 1.26 × 1.19 × 1.068 = 3.63
    λ1. FC Union Berlin = 1.86 × 0.72 × 1.04 × 0.880 = 1.23
  6. Poisson grid. Probability of every exact score from 0-0 to 8-8, assuming the two goal totals are independent, then adding up the cells: home win 80.7%, draw 10.8%, away win 8.5% — displayed rounded to whole numbers so that they add up to exactly 100. Most likely exact score in the grid: 3-1 (only 7.7%, which says enough about how unpredictable an exact score is).
Limits of this model — they are not anecdotal.
  • It only knows goals and a venue. Neither absences, suspensions, line-ups, fatigue, stakes, weather nor club context enter the calculation — while the other tabs of this page show that they matter.
  • The assumption that the two goal totals are independent is false in reality: it slightly underestimates tight scores, hence the draw.
  • γ is measured over a rolling window (each team's last 5 matches), not over the whole season.
  • The shrinkage constants (6, 60, 8) and the bounds are choices, not measurements. They were tuned to be cautious early in the season; they were not calibrated on a results history, as none is available here.
  • No after-the-fact evaluation has been made: at this stage, nobody knows whether this model is better or worse calibrated than another.
What other sources say
No external source has been collected for this match. That is the normal state: readings are taken by hand, and an empty box is better than an unverified figure.
This block shows probability estimates, not predictions, and carries no advisory value. The in-house estimate is the result of a formula applied to a small sample; the figures from external sources are reproduced as they were collected, without their method having been verified.

The full squad

The professional squad by position, captain marked with an armband.

Goalkeepers
  • Frederik Rønnow
  • Carl Klaus
  • Matheo Raab
Defenders
  • Felix Uduokhai
  • Andrik Markgraf
  • Zeno Van den Bosch
  • Marvin Friedrich
  • Leopold Querfeld
  • Tom Rothe
  • Derrick Köhn
  • Josip Juranovic
  • Christopher TrimmelC
  • Stanley Nsoki
  • Oluwaseun Ogbemudia
Midfielders
  • Aljoscha Kemlein
  • Rani Khedira
  • Woo-yeong Jeong
  • András Schäfer
  • Janik Haberer
  • Michel Aebischer
  • Tim Skarke
  • Robert Skov
  • Julien Friedrich
Forwards
  • Oliver Burke
  • Livan Burcu
  • Ilyas Ansah
  • Andrej Ilic
  • Marin Ljubicic
  • Emmanuel Latte Lath
  • Mekhi Gray
  • Linus Güther
Squad last verified on 31 Aug 2026 — source: Official “Kader 2026/27” page of fc-union-berlin.de, cross-checked against bundesliga.com's list of 2026/27 captains (Trimmel captain, Rani Khedira vice-captain). Caveat: Ilyas Ansah still appears on the official page even though his transfer to Hull City was announced on 27/08/2026..

What has been said recently

Chronological feed of verified information about the club.

rss18 Oct 2026
Now live - Union Berlin against the 1st FC Nürnberg
Source: Sportschau
rss18 Oct 2026
The end of wild actions: How Shepherd's Union is Stabilizing Now
Source: kicker
rss17 Oct 2026
Fight and cramp in Berlin - BVB disappoints again at Union
Source: Sportschau
rss17 Oct 2026
Locked Union Trainer – New allegations become public
Source: Welt Sport
rss17 Oct 2026
Union Berlin - Borussia Dortmund, live - 124; Bundesliga
Source: Mundo Deportivo
rss17 Oct 2026
" We count the hours" : in Bauer, a new forum as a trait of union between more fervent supporters of the Red Star, opposed to Saint-Étienne in Ligue 2
Source: L'Équipe
Institutional3 Sep 2026
The club holds its ordinary general meeting on Thursday 3 September from 18:00 in the main stand of the stadium An der Alten Försterei, doors open from 16:30. The main agenda item is the election of the supervisory board; the notices and agenda were sent to members electronically as early as 17 July.
Source: 1. FC Union Berlin (site officiel)
Injury3 Sep 2026
Three players remain unavailable before the trip to Leverkusen: Stanley Nsoki, out for around two months with a muscle injury, Andrik Markgraf, who suffered a cruciate ligament rupture, and Oliver Burke, still in fitness rehabilitation.
Source: LigaInsider
Transfers1 Sep 2026
Kastriot Imeri, a 26-year-old Swiss attacking midfielder, arrives from BSC Young Boys where he won two league titles and a Swiss Cup. He is reunited with Mauro Lustrinelli, with whom he was champion during a loan spell at FC Thun. Horst Heldt stresses that “he will bring extra creativity to our attacking play”, while the player praises “one of the strongest leagues in the world”.
Source: 1. FC Union Berlin (site officiel)
Transfers1 Sep 2026
Young Oluwaseun Ogbemudia was loaned to Mannheim on deadline day, as part of the policy of placing academy players.
Source: 1. FC Union Berlin (site officiel)
Transfers1 Sep 2026
Ilyas Ansah was transferred to Hull City on deadline day, for a fee described as a sales record for the Berlin club.
Source: Fussballdaten
Transfers1 Sep 2026
The summer window closed with Danilo Doekhi's departure to Lazio, offset by the arrivals of Felix Uduokhai, from Beşiktaş, and Michel Aebischer.
Source: Bundesliga.com
Result29 Aug 2026
Union Berlin snatched a spectacular 3-3 against Eintracht Frankfurt at the Alte Försterei, coming back from 1-3 thanks to formidable effectiveness from set pieces. Mauro Lustrinelli was pleased: “Those are goals scored with heart, and in the end a deserved point.”
Source: Site officiel de l'Eintracht Francfort
Supporters28 Aug 2026
Frederik Rønnow has again been voted footballer of the year by supporters, with 1,468 votes from more than 4,000 voters. It is his fourth consecutive award, which allows him to equal the club record held by Jan Glinker and Wolfgang Matthies. On the women's side, captain Lisa Heiseler keeps her title with more than 60% of the vote.
Source: 1. FC Union Berlin (site officiel)
Transfers27 Aug 2026
Centre-back Felix Uduokhai (28, ex-Wolfsburg and Augsburg) returns to the Bundesliga by signing for Union Berlin from Beşiktaş; he is the sixth summer signing and fills the gaps left by the departures of Danilho Doekhi and Diogo Leite.
Source: Bundesliga.com
Transfers27 Aug 2026
Ilyas Ansah (21) leaves for Hull City: t-online reports a full agreement between the clubs for around €24m and a contract until 2031, which would be the club's record sale (beyond the €20.5m for Awoniyi in 2022). Amount disputed: another source mentions around €22m.
Source: t-online
News last verified on 18 Oct 2026. Sources: sports press (L'Équipe, Le Parisien, Foot Mercato, regional press…) and official club websites — see the link on each item.
Editorial content (playing style, mood, absences, external prediction sources) last verified on 3 Sep 2026. The standings/form data above are refreshed automatically — as is the 1/X/2 estimate, recomputed on every view.