2026/2027 season

Bundesliga

Team page
Bundesliga · Team page
VfB Stuttgart
Head coach: Sebastian Hoeneß · 4-2-3-1
Rank
13th
Pts
6
P
6
Form
🟡 Average

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
4/10
Attack
7/10
Defence
4/10
Form
4/10
Confidence / mood
Current risk:Very high

13th with 6 pts from 6 matches: 2 wins, 0 draws, 4 defeats.

8 goals scored, 10 conceded.

Among them is the duel between the German Stuttgart and the Atletico of Madrid that will be played in the Arena stadium of the German city.

Mundo Deportivo · 18 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

The Hamburger SV wins 1-0 against VfB Stuttgart and continues its upswing. Miro Muheim decides a Bundesliga game for the second time in succession – and with a special shot.

Welt Sport · 18 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

Constance is the big problem of VfB Stuttgart in the current season - this was also evident in Hamburg, where they were superior over long distances and still lost in the end. Deniz Undav then put his finger in the wound.

kicker · 17 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

The Swabians came to victory after a two-goal deficit after the break.

Sportschau · 17 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

How the team has played recently

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

Latest matches
Lvs Hamburger SV (A) · 0-1
Wvs SC Paderborn 07 (A) · 2-0
Lvs Borussia Dortmund (H) · 0-1
Lvs TSG 1899 Hoffenheim (A) · 1-2
Wvs 1. FC Köln (H) · 4-1
WWLLLL
8 scored / 10 conceded over 6 matches played
Rest: 1 day since the last match · 2 matches played in the last 15 days
Home form
1W - 0D - 1L
Away form
1W - 0D - 3L
Statistics

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

Goals scored per match
1.4
Goals conceded per match
1.0
At home
4 scored · 2 conceded in 2 matches
Away
3 scored · 3 conceded in 3 matches
Over 2.5 goals
2 of 5
Both teams score
2 of 5
Clean sheets
1 of 5
Failed to score
2 of 5
Cumulative points vs league average

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

How VfB Stuttgart play

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

Playing identity
Preferred system
4-2-3-1
Philosophy
Ambitious positional play with asymmetric occupation of the flanks and a dual attacking reference point (Undav as a free-roaming presence behind a genuine number 9), with Hoeneß alternating between a basic 4-2-3-1 and a back three depending on the opponent (Get German Football News tactical analysis, 22/08/2026).
Attacking strengths
Second-best attack in the Bundesliga in 2025-26 behind Bayern according to Bundesliga.com; Deniz Undav scored 25 goals and provided 12 assists in it, and Ermedin Demirović has a total of 27 goals in 59 Bundesliga matches. Start of 2026-27: a 4-0 win at Hansa Rostock in the Cup (hat-trick for Dženan Pejčinović on his debut) and 1 goal scored in Munich.
Defensive solidity
The most exposed area: 5 goals conceded as early as matchday 1 at the Allianz Arena, with man-marking that did not hold up for 90 minutes and an own goal by Josha Vagnoman; the 4th-place finish in 2025-26 had, however, been achieved with a goal difference of +22.
Pressing
High but organised pressing: the team defends from an orderly base rather than through constant harrying (Get German Football News, 22/08/2026). No verified figures (PPDA, height of ball recoveries) could be obtained.
Transitions
Good ability to break forward thanks to Leweling, Führich and Undav, but an acknowledged vulnerability to opponents' direct transitions — a flaw already identified in pre-season and confirmed in Munich.
StrengthRare attacking depth (Undav, Demirović, Pejčinović, Führich, Leweling, Tomás), four different profiles in midfield (Stiller, Prömel, Karazor, Chema Andrés) allowing rotation, continuity in the coaching staff and recent European experience.
WeaknessCentral defence and flanks weakened by injuries (Assignon, Zagadou, Jaquez), an uncertain succession in goal after Alexander Nübel's departure and Dennis Seimen's injury, a chronic inability to compete with Bayern, and a structural dependence on player sales.

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 opening 1-5 hammering in Munich left its mark, with Fabian Wohlgemuth himself calling the result “depressing” while Sebastian Hoeneß argued for “improving week by week”. VfB open matchday 2 as early as Friday 4 September against Cologne, provisionally bottom of the table with zero points. The head coach's personal record against the Rhinelanders, seven wins and a draw in eight matches, is the main reason for optimism. A very solid pre-season and a 4-0 in the cup are also a reminder that the attacking potential is intact.
Coach / players / board relationship
The board made bold calls in selling Chema Andrés to Brighton and Lazar Jovanović to Udinese, and is now considering a loan for its most expensive signing, Badredine Bouanani. It did, however, manage to keep its two most sought-after players: Jamie Leweling turned down AS Roma and Bilal El Khannouss rejected a Saudi offer of around €40m. That double resistance confirms the stated line, selling to fund investment without letting key players go cheaply. No public friction is reported between Sebastian Hoeneß and Fabian Wohlgemuth.
Mood with the supporters
The environment remains broadly supportive, fed by the return to the Champions League and a draw the local press considers “entirely manageable”. The opening rout in Munich was received as a disappointment, even if it was largely expected. The visit of Cologne to open the matchday, on a Friday night at the MHPArena, should allow the team to get going again in front of their own crowd. No organised protest or banner has been reported.
Pressure on the head coach
The pressure on Sebastian Hoeneß is low. He is credited with transforming the club and is coming off a 4th place that qualified them for the Champions League. No source consulted suggests his position is in question after matchday 1. His excellent record against Cologne further reduces the risk of starting the season with no points from two games.
Club objectives
The verified objective remains to aim for Champions League qualification again after 4th place in 2025-26, while coping with both domestic and European demands. The club is in the Champions League league phase, whose opening round is scheduled from 8 to 10 September, as well as the DFB-Pokal. In the short term, the urgency is to get off the mark on Friday 4 September against Cologne. No more precise or numerical official statement could be verified.
Recent internal tensions
No dressing-room tension is reported. The point of friction remains financial: the club still depends on sales to fund the renovation of its Mercedesstraße headquarters and the purchase of the Carl-Benz-Center. Bilal El Khannouss, long identified as the most likely candidate to leave and described as unhappy with his playing time at the end of last season, ultimately turned down Al-Ittihad and started the season in the first eleven. The only situation still open is that of Badredine Bouanani, allowed to leave on loan after being left out of the squad for the cup.
Absences
InjuredDan-Axel Zagadou — Hamstring injury sustained against Everton; absence estimated at four to six weeks, with no new information as of 1 September.
InjuredJustin Diehl — Hamstring injury; around five weeks out.
InjuredDennis Seimen — Goalkeeper with a hamstring injury; around five weeks out.
InjuredNikolas Nartey — Muscle injury; announced as unavailable for the home game against Cologne.
InjuredJeremy Arévalo — In fitness rehabilitation; already missed the DFB-Pokal round.
DoubtfulLorenz Assignon — Shoulder injury; very close to rejoining full team training as of 1 September.
DoubtfulChris Führich — Status uncertain before the home game against Cologne.

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

VfB Stuttgart — Borussia Mönchengladbach

At homeFriday 23 October at 20:30Matchday 7
In 5 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
EstimateVfB Stuttgart — Borussia Mönchengladbach
66 %
1 · VfB Stuttgart
16 %
X · draw
18 %
2 · Borussia Mönchengladbach
In-house calculation, from this page's standings data alone: 6 matches played by VfB Stuttgart, 5 matches by Borussia Mönchengladbach. 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
    VfB Stuttgart — attack8 in 6 matches0.720.86
    VfB Stuttgart — defence10 in 6 matches0.900.95
    Borussia Mönchengladbach — attack7 in 5 matches0.750.89
    Borussia Mönchengladbach — defence18 in 5 matches1.941.43
    The “Kept” column is the result of shrinkage towards the mean: weight = P / (P + 6), i.e. 0.50 for VfB Stuttgart and 0.45 for Borussia Mönchengladbach. 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%.
    VfB Stuttgart at home: 1.50 pts/match versus 1.00 overall over 2 matches → ×1.100
    Borussia Mönchengladbach away: 0.00 pts/match versus 0.00 overall over 3 matches → ×1.000
  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.
    λVfB Stuttgart = 1.86 × 0.86 × 1.43 × 1.19 × 1.100 = 2.98
    λBorussia Mönchengladbach = 1.86 × 0.89 × 0.95 × 1.000 = 1.56
  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 66.2%, draw 15.9%, away win 17.9% — displayed rounded to whole numbers so that they add up to exactly 100. Most likely exact score in the grid: 2-1 (only 7.4%, 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
  • Fabian Bredlow
  • Dennis Seimen
  • Stefan Drljača
  • Marius Funk
Defenders
  • Jeff Chabot
  • Finn Jeltsch
  • Maximilian Mittelstädt
  • Josha Vagnoman
  • Ameen Al-Dakhil
  • Ramon Hendriks
  • Dan-Axel Zagadou
  • Lorenz Assignon
  • Luca Jaquez
  • Leonidas Stergiou
  • Maximilian Herwerth
Midfielders
  • Angelo Stiller
  • Grischa Prömel
  • Atakan Karazor
  • Chema Andrés
  • Bilal El Khannouss
  • Nikolas Nartey
  • Mirza Ćatović
  • Ertugrul Yigit
Forwards
  • Deniz UndavC
  • Ermedin Demirović
  • Dženan Pejčinović
  • Chris Führich
  • Jamie Leweling
  • Tiago Tomás
  • Badredine Bouanani
  • Leo Sauer
  • Justin Diehl
  • Jeremy Arévalo
  • Lazar Jovanović
  • Jarzinho Malanga
  • Jovan Milošević
Squad last verified on 31 Aug 2026 — source: sport.de — VfB Stuttgart 2026/2027 squad (https://www.sport.de/fussball/te2076/vfb-stuttgart/kader/), cross-checked against the matchday 1 line-up published by Bundesliga.com and the captaincy confirmed by ran.de and Bundesliga.com. Caveat: Jovan Milošević's presence is uncertain, with an English-language source (bulinews) mentioning a move to SC Braga..

What has been said recently

Chronological feed of verified information about the club.

rss18 Oct 2026
Serdar Gözübüyük will be the referee of the Stuttgart - Atlético de Madrid
Source: Mundo Deportivo
rss18 Oct 2026
"No top team" - VfB Stuttgart lacks the flow
Source: Sportschau
rss17 Oct 2026
The Stuttgart, defeated and without goal before receiving the Atletico
Source: Mundo Deportivo
rss17 Oct 2026
Muheim as a match winner: Hamburger SV defeats VfB Stuttgart in the Bundesliga
Source: Sportschau
rss17 Oct 2026
Dortmund wants first place back, HSV welcomes Stuttgart
Source: Welt Sport
rss17 Oct 2026
Now live - BVB at Union, Stuttgart at HSV
Source: Sportschau
Injury3 Sep 2026
Stuttgart's injury list has grown heavier still: Justin Diehl and Dennis Seimen both have hamstring injuries and will miss around five weeks, Nikolas Nartey is in danger of being ruled out, Dan-Axel Zagadou remains out for several weeks and Jeremy Arévalo is continuing his fitness rehabilitation. Chris Führich is also doubtful.
Source: LigaInsider
Club3 Sep 2026
Badredine Bouanani, signed from Nice last summer for €17m including bonuses, has been allowed to leave on loan. Left out of the squad for the cup tie against Rostock despite a serious pre-season, he is attracting interest from German, French and Scottish clubs; a loan now looks the most likely outcome.
Source: Fussballdaten
Contract2 Sep 2026
Bilal El Khannouss turned down an offer from Al-Ittihad of around €40m, submitted on Tuesday evening, explaining that he had no interest in the Saudi league. Signed from Leicester City in July 2026 for €15m, the 22-year-old Moroccan had also attracted Newcastle, Tottenham, Everton, Crystal Palace and Galatasaray, with VfB setting his price above €65m.
Source: Get German Football News
Club2 Sep 2026
VfB open matchday 2 at home to 1. FC Köln on Friday 4 September at the MHPArena, provisionally bottom with zero points. Sebastian Hoeneß has a personal record of seven wins and a draw in eight meetings with Cologne. Nikolas Nartey, with a muscle problem, and Lorenz Assignon, troubled by his shoulder, are announced as unavailable.
Source: Yahoo Sports
Injury1 Sep 2026
Medical update before the restart: Lorenz Assignon is “very close to rejoining full” team training after his shoulder injury, while no new information has been given on Dan-Axel Zagadou, whose absence is still estimated at four to six weeks after the injury he sustained against Everton.
Source: Comunio
Transfers1 Sep 2026
Lazar Jovanović was transferred to Udinese for a fee of up to €8m on deadline day, after Chema Andrés's move to Brighton.
Source: Fussballdaten
Transfers1 Sep 2026
The summer window closed with the arrivals of Grischa Prömel from Hoffenheim, winger Leo Sauer from Feyenoord and forward Dženan Pejčinović, signed from Wolfsburg.
Source: Bundesliga.com
Other29 Aug 2026
VfB open the season with a 1-5 defeat at Bayern Munich: Vagnoman equalises before scoring an own goal for 1-3; it is the club's 7th consecutive competitive defeat to Bayern. Hoeneß wants to “improve week by week”, Fabian Wohlgemuth calls the result “depressing”.
Source: Wochenblatt-Reporter
Result28 Aug 2026
VfB took a hiding on their opening outing: 5-1 at the Allianz Arena against Bayern Munich. Josha Vagnoman had in fact equalised with a powerful strike (52) before scoring an own goal six minutes later, slipping on the wet surface. Four Stuttgart players were booked.
Source: Fussballdaten
Institutional27 Aug 2026
Champions League league phase draw in Monaco: VfB will face Inter Milan, PSV Eindhoven, Galatasaray and Slovan Bratislava away, and Atlético Madrid, Club Bruges, LOSC Lille and Viking Stavanger at home. The league phase starts from 8 to 10 September 2026.
Source: Stuttgarter Zeitung
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.