Bundesliga 2025/26 Tactical Previews: SC Freiburg | OneFootball

The 10th installment of our Bundesliga tactical previews here on Get German Football News brings us to Breisgau. Julian Schuster’s SC Freiburg hope to succeed in both the league and their return to Europe this season. As we shall see, the squad – if a bit unbalanced – is actually well built to achieve both objectives. Loaded with plenty of great attacking options on the wing, this team can supply us with some explosive football this year. Though they didn’t exactly do so in the Pokal, that can be fixed.

Off we go!

SC Freiburg

Much like with St. Pauli, one needs to go into full depth when taking a look at the summer moves in Breisgau. Every penny counts for this small-market club. The administrative set-up at Freiburg is about as German as it gets. Jochen Saier and Klemens Hartenbach handle the front office, but work very closely with the board on all major decisions. Hartenbach is technically the sporting director, but doubles up as the head of the scouting department. Saier also has a lot of duties with the academy and several board members, like Oliver Leki, possesses personnel duties as well.

It’s a “committee” approach, but one that largely works among a close group of colleagues who have been working together for 10, 15, sometimes 20 years. It’s peaceful and idyllic Freiburg. Everyone gets along and is nice. Loyalty – as evidenced by the cases of Volker Finke and Christian Streich – is richly rewarded. The same guy has been driving the team bus since 1994. He’s actually really nice too. It all works out in the end. No splurges from the Schwarzwaldverein, not even after the European years.

Major personnel shifts, SC Freiburg

Estimated Summer Transfer Balance = -€5.3 million

The famous “Breisgauer Committee” of general managers got the offseason off to a flying start by signing attacker Cyriaque Irié and Yuito Suzuki almost immediately after the season ended. Before anyone had a chance to catch their breath, the SCF front office brought in Anthony Jung and Derry Scherhant as well. All of this took place within one week after the end of last season. So much for heading off on vacation. Saier and the rest of the administrative team knew where their priorities lay, or maybe they just couldn’t secure their preferred booking.

In the second week after the season ended, Freiburg secured a fresh loan out to Holstein Kiel for St. Pauli returnee Robert Wagner. In the first week of June, once highly promising defensive prospect Kenneth Schmidt was sold to Fortuna Düsseldorf. Things then quieted down for a good long while until the record purchase of former fullback Philipp Treu was wrapped up at the end of June. Treu’s highly intriguing return to the Schwarzwald generated quite a bit of buzz among German footballing enthusiasts.

Treu’s return to Freiburg led to the team spending a good bit of July negotiating Kiliann Sildillia’s sale to PSV. Sort of a shame that the French fullback ended up getting hawked for pennies on the dollar. Croatian striker Igor Matanovic was also brought on board from Eintracht Frankfurt early in the month. After a long summer of reporting on rumors Ritsu Doan’s sale to Frankfurt was finally finalized in August. A 2. Bundesliga loan out for highly disappointing signing Florent Muslija came couple of days later.

Notes from camp, SC Freiburg

An undefeated pre-season means quite a bit in the context of the fact that Freiburg faced some serious tests. Julian Schuster’s team blanked Sanhausen and Altach in their first two friendlies. Before breaking July camp in Austria, there was also a 3-3 draw with Dresden in a 120-minute scrimmage. Lucas Höler grabbed a brace. Matanovic opened his (unofficial) Freiburg account. Scherhant added an assist. Suzuki looked very good. While there were some awful defensive errors amid the three goals conceded, organizing a test fixture against their former youth coach Thomas Stamm was precisely the right idea.

A double-header against newly promoted Hamburger SV at the beginning of August produced a 1-1 draw and a 4-0 win. It also produced a nasty injury to Philipp Treu that will unfortunately keep the marquee signing sidelined for some time. Otherwise, things went well. Maximilian Philipp came on to replace Treu in the first fixture and scored. A cool-looking 4-4-2 in the second match enabled the double striker set of Höler and Adamu to grab a goal each. Jan-Niklas Beste turned in an excellent performance on the right flank.

There was a little fan festival followed by another 140-minute twin-bill against CA Osasuna at Europa Park Stadion to round out the test-fixtures. Man, did the SC brass ever decide to run their crew hard this pre-season! Loads of tired legs on display here, particularly after the players had to attend to some media duties before kickoff. Matanovic scored, but it came off a deflection. Adamu also got his name on the scoresheet via the penalty spot. Ideally, everyone got some extra time in the ice-bath after this one.

Winners from camp, SC Freiburg

Lucas Höler, CF

No, one is simply not keeping this old dog down! The 31-year-old does whatever he pleases. He performs irrespective of whatever supposedly “better” strikers Freiburg acquire in the offseason and whatever he decides to do with his hair. Höler has always served as a German fan favorite despite the fact that few outside the country have ever heard of him. In point of fact, there are probably Germans who consider themselves knowledgeable about the Bundesliga who have never heard of him. He just quietly does his thing, racking up 42 league goals in 231 top flight appearances over the last eight seasons.

To be clear, Matanovic definitely counts as one of the “winners” from camp as well. The 22-year-old always possessed impressive raw talent and it was a shame to see him earn so few minutes for Frankfurt last season. Matanovic probably would have started in the Pokal had he not been a late scratch due to muscular issues. One looks forward to watching the now five-times-capped Croatian international in action this year. A double striker set with Höler and Matanovic could work. The author bets on some snap chemistry below.

Jan-Niklas Beste, RW

Reunited with his former Heidenheim teammate Eren Dinkçi, Beste now finds himself in direct competition with Dinkçi for a starting place. Good camp from the colorful character with the Nordic lumberjack beard. A shame that the two can’t play opposite each other. The problem lies in the fact that the immortal Vincenzo Grifo can’t be displaced; at least not from his starting spot or the team’s set-piece hierarchy. The fact that Beste seems back up to his old level remains relevant in that he can potentially prove a force off the bench.

The same applies to Derry Scherhant, who also turned in a very positive camp. Schuster has plenty of options to turn to in order to sway matches late. Should injury problems mount up, the depth in attack leaves the SCF trainer with few worries. Suzuki’s flashes of flair lend this team a great deal of strength up front. Small wonder that the Freiburg front office had the luxury of taking their time with the Ritsu Doan sale. They simply don’t need Doan anymore. No shortage of determined actors prepared to step into the breach.

Johan Manzambi, ATTM

Yes, to answer the million dollar question, this breakout star basically picked up right where he left off. Deservedly rewarded with a new contract, we can once again expect great things from the Swiss teenage phenom. Manzambi constitutes another reason why Freiburg don’t need Doan. Er…..to early for a “Do[n’t]an” or “[No-an]” reference? Manzambi should retain the starting ten slot assuming that Schuster sticks with a 4-2-3-1. Naturally, with this crowded field of attackers, he’ll still have to fight for minutes.

Lukas Kübler, RB

Talk about an old, underrated dog who just refuses to lie down. Kübler is basically the defensive equivalent of Höler. Injury or suspension always leads to him getting another chance that he makes the most of. Sildillia’s sale and Treu’s injury once again means that Kübler emerges as the undisputed starting right-back. How many braces will he score this season? A former bookie sets the over/under at two. Serious. Absolutely serious. Maybe not about the bets, but definitely about the line.

Losers from camp, SC Freiburg

Merlin Röhl, ATTM

Manzambi’s rise pretty much does Freiburg’s “mini-magician” in. Neck issues sidelining him in training camp haven’t helped. Neither has the fact that his deployments at ten last season didn’t exactly work out well. Röhl always worked better as a wide man. Cramming him into tight spaces restricts him too much. That would be fine apart from the fact that, as triple-emphasized above, there are way too many candidates on the flanks in this team!

Maximilian Philipp, ATTM

Ugh. Please let it just be over. No more false dawns, including his pre-season goal. No more loan outs.  The sad story of this once promising German footballing prodigy just needs to come to an end. Watching him struggle in the pre-season because Schuster has been using him – of all places – on the defensive line has simply proven too much. Why must we continue to suffer? Just hire him to serve as the bus driver’s assistant and let’s get this over with.

Jordy Makengo, LB

Yeah, it would be nice if we could get this one over with as well. Boundless potential. Endless mistakes. One of the most frustrating players in the entire Bundesliga to watch. Another error-strewn pre-season. We’ll accept a loan out here. Get him someplace where he can hone his skills away from the sight of those of us working this beat!

Cyriaque Irié, RW

This one’s actually okay. There’s just no room for him and he’s a tad raw with his touch. Given his pace and technique, it’s probably a good idea to keep him on the squad. All it should take is one moment of magic off the bench for him to snatch his inaugural Bundesliga goal. He could probably snag a couple before the calendar year is out.

Tactical Scout, SC Freiburg

An extremely compact 4-2-3-1 from Schuster in the Pokal meant that we didn’t get a great deal of entertainment value out of Freiburg’s 2-0 win over Sportfreunde Lotte. From the perspective of the Bundesliga club, it counted as a sovereign success. Over 80 percent possession. A 17-2 shot advantage. A paltry 0.05 xG from the opponent. One still hopes we’ve seen the last of this as it served up some mind-bogglingly boring football.

Lineup—Freiburg (DFB Pokal)

Dinkçi finished a fluky 1-0 with an artistic volley in the 43rd. Höler pounced on a Christian Günter free-kick that leaked through in the 69th. Yawn. Both goals actually came off dead-balls. Something a little bit more adventurous would be great next week against Augsburg. We’ll simply have to sacrifice Manzambi in order to bring back the 4-4-2.

Lineup—Freiburg (Projected)

The team is simply too talented out wide for us to be wasting our time with what we saw this weekend. The gap between the two top axes shouldn’t be much of a problem. If it is one of the speedsters can be brought in off the bench. The home-town Breisgau crowd definitely deserves to watch something fun.

GGFN | Peter Weis