BERLIN (AP) — Ten-man Leipzig came from a goal down in the German Cup final to beat Freiburg 4-2 on penalties for the club’s first trophy in its short history on Saturday.
Christopher Nkunku equalized in the 76th minute for 1-1 in normal time, sending the game to extra time, then penalties, where Freiburg captain Christian Günter and Ermedin Demirovic both missed.
BERLIN (AP) — Cultures and ideologies will clash Saturday when fan-run Freiburg plays Red Bull-backed Leipzig in the German Cup final.
Build-up has been dominated by a dispute over marketing rights, with Freiburg refusing to allow its crest or logos to be used for any joint commemorative merchandise with its opponent ahead of the soccer match.
VIENNA (AP) — The 2024 European Championship final will be at Berlin’s Olympiastadion and the opening match will be at Bayern Munich's stadium, UEFA's executive committee decided on Tuesday.
Matches will be played in Germany in three clusters of venues with groups split between only two of them.
BERLIN (AP) — Saša Kalajdžić earned relegation-threatened Stuttgart a 2-2 draw at league champion Bayern Munich on Sunday to ensure three teams will be fighting for survival in the Bundesliga's final round.
BERLIN (AP) — With little excitement at the top of the Bundesliga, it’s the clubs just below Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund that are providing the entertainment at the end of the season.
Bayer Leverkusen, Freiburg, Leipzig, Cologne and Union Berlin are all scrapping for European places with two matches to go, with two of those teams joining Bayern and Dortmund in the Champions League, while another two will qualify for the Europa League.
BERLIN (AP) — Bayer Leverkusen consolidated third place and Leipzig dropped out of the Bundesliga top four after contrasting fortunes for both in their quest for Champions League qualification on Monday.
DORTMUND, Germany (AP) — Borussia Dortmund signed Germany defender Nico Schlotterbeck from Bundesliga rival Freiburg for next season on Monday.
Dortmund said the 22-year-old center back signed a contract through June 2027 and will become the club’s second new addition to its defense after fellow international Niklas Süle agreed on a free transfer from Bayern Munich.
BERLIN (AP) — There will be no official half-and-half scarves at the German Cup final this year.
Cup finalist Freiburg has forbidden the use of its logo or crest for any joint commemorative merchandise with opponent Leipzig.
BERLIN (AP) — Union Berlin substitute Sven Michel scored again to salvage a 1-1 draw against already relegated Greuther Fürth on Friday in his team’s 100th Bundesliga game since promotion.
Michel, who scored late and set up the other goal for Union to beat Leipzig 2-1 away last weekend, came on in the 70th minute and scored two minutes later when he forced Fürth defender Nick Viergever to lose the ball in his own penalty area.
Eintracht Frankfurt is a step away from reaching its first European competition final in more than 40 years after beating West Ham 2-1 in the first leg of the Europa League semifinals on Thursday.
The German team had knocked out Barcelona in the quarterfinals and quickly shocked West Ham when Ansgar Knauff scored 51 seconds after kickoff at the London Stadium.
A look at what’s happening in European soccer on Thursday:
EUROPA LEAGUE
After Eintracht Frankfurt fans took over the Camp Nou for their upset quarterfinal win over Barcelona, London is the next destination as their team plays West Ham in the first leg of the semifinals.
LEIPZIG, Germany (AP) — Emil Forsberg scored in injury time to send Leipzig back into the German Cup final with a 2-1 win at home over Union Berlin on Wednesday.
Benjamin Henrichs crossed the ball back in after Union defender Timo Baumgartl had cleared off the line, and Forsberg got in front of Andras Schäfer to head the ball past goalkeeper Frederik Rönnow and set up a title decider against Freiburg in Berlin’s Olympiastadion on May 21.
Barcelona's European campaign has gone from bad to worse in its first season post Lionel Messi.
First the Spanish powerhouse was eliminated from the lucrative Champions League, and now it has been knocked out of the second-tier Europa League by Eintracht Frankfurt.
BERLIN (AP) — In-form Leipzig continued its impressive run with a 3-0 win over Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga on Sunday.
Leipzig had the match all but won by halftime following goals from Christopher Nkunku, Marcel Halstenberg and Dominik Szoboszlai.
BERLIN (AP) — It was supposed to be a festival of soccer to celebrate the return of fans and a fresh start after more than two years of coronavirus restrictions.
More than 81,000 supporters packed Westfalenstadion to capacity on Saturday, the first time since Feb.
BERLIN (AP) — This time, Robert Lewandowski failed to score.
It didn’t matter on Saturday as others did for Bayern Munich to stretch its Bundesliga lead to nine points with a 4-1 win in Freiburg.
DORTMUND, Germany (AP) — Borussia Dortmund faces an anxious wait to see if top scorer Erling Haaland will be fit to face Leipzig on Saturday after the Norway forward returned from international duty with a foot injury.
BERLIN (AP) — The Bundesliga will have full stadiums for the first time in months this weekend as coronavirus restrictions are scrapped across Germany in time for the season finale.
Union Berlin has sold all 22,012 tickets for its home game against Cologne on Friday.
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — A multi-million dollar transfer dispute caused by the COVID-19 pandemic over a forward who no longer plays for either Leeds and Leipzig went to the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Tuesday.
BERLIN (AP) — Stefan Posch got the only goal as Hoffenheim beat Cologne 1-0 amid a host of missed chances by both teams on Sunday to move fourth in the Bundesliga, the last place for Champions League qualification.
HANNOVER, Germany (AP) — Christopher Nkunku continued his free-scoring start to 2022 as Leipzig cruised into the semifinals of the German Cup with a 4-0 win over second-division club Hannover on Wednesday.
American coach Jesse Marsch was hired by Leeds on Monday, with the club hoping a late-season change in manager can help to preserve its English Premier League status.
Marsch replaced Marcelo Bielsa, who was fired on Sunday following a dramatic downturn in results, and is back in work nearly three months after leaving German team Leipzig.
NYON, Switzerland (AP) — Russian club Spartak Moscow will play at Leipzig in the first leg of the round of 16 of the Europa League before needing to find a neutral venue outside the country to host the return match.
LEIPZIG, Germany (AP) — Leipzig rebounded from its narrow defeat to Bayern Munich by moving to fourth in the Bundesliga after beating visitor Cologne 3-1 on Friday.
Goals from Christopher Nkunku, Dani Olmo and Angeliño helped the home team overtake Cologne, which had been sixth, and move into the last qualification spot for the Champions League ahead of the rest of the 22nd round.
ZURICH (AP) — FIFA has approved Leicester City winger Ademola Lookman changing his nationality to represent Nigeria instead of England, world soccer's governing body said Thursday.
Lookman, who is on loan at Leicester from Leipzig, was part of England's title win at the 2017 Under-20 World Cup.
MUNICH (AP) — Bayern Munich will be without Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer for some weeks after he opted for surgery on a troublesome knee.
Bayern said on Monday that Neuer underwent an operation on his right knee joint the day before and the team will be without its captain “for the coming weeks.”
BERLIN (AP) — Robert Lewandowski ended his one-game scoring drought on Saturday.
The Poland star scored his 24th goal in 21 games to help Bayern Munich stretch its Bundesliga lead to nine points with a 3-2 win over visiting Leipzig.
A look at what’s happening in European soccer on Saturday:
ENGLAND
Frank Lampard begins his tenure as Everton manager when his team hosts Brentford among a batch of FA Cup fourth-round matches.
BERLIN (AP) — For only the fifth Bundesliga game this season, Robert Lewandowski didn’t score.
He didn’t have to as Bayern Munich outclassed Hertha Berlin 4-1 on Sunday to restore its six-point lead in the Bundesliga.
GENOA, Italy (AP) — Genoa hired German coach Alexander Blessin on Wednesday to replace the fired Andriy Shevchenko.
The 48-year-old Blessin signed a contract until 2024 after Genoa, currently struggling in Italy's top tier, paid his release clause from Belgian soccer club Oostende.
COLOGNE, Germany (AP) — Robert Lewandowski bagged a hat trick as Bayern Munich scored for a record 66th Bundesliga game in succession to beat Cologne 4-0 and restore its six-point lead on Saturday.
BERLIN (AP) — Several windows at a mosque in the eastern German city of Leipzig were broken after dozens of people set off fireworks, set fire to garbage cans and threw bottles at cars, police said Tuesday.
LEIPZIG, Germany (AP) — Leipzig hired former Schalke coach Domenico Tedesco on Thursday to replace American coach Jesse Marsch, who left after a run of losses.
Tedesco will have a contract until the end of the 2022-23 season, the club said.
A look at what’s happening in the Champions League on Tuesday:
GROUP A
With Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain already qualified for the knockout stage, there is not much suspense left.
LEIPZIG, Germany (AP) — American Jesse Marsch is no longer coach of Bundesliga team Leipzig.
The club said Sunday that the two had “mutually agreed to end the cooperation. That is the result of an in-depth analysis and intensive discussions” after Friday’s 2-1 loss at Union Berlin.
BERLIN (AP) — Roared on by its biggest crowd for the foreseeable future, Union Berlin defeated Leipzig 2-1 to climb to fourth in the Bundesliga and deepen the visitor's crisis on Friday.
Goals from Taiwo Awoniyi and Timo Baumgartl lifted Union into a Champions League qualification place ahead of the rest of the 14th round and left Leipzig scrambling for answers after its third successive domestic defeat.
DÜSSELDORF, Germany (AP) — Just one point separates the Bundesliga title challengers. Bayern Munich looks beatable. Erling Haaland is back and scoring for Borussia Dortmund.
Normally that would make for a mouthwatering “Klassiker,” but yet again German soccer's biggest game is overshadowed by the coronavirus.
LEIPZIG, Germany (AP) — German soccer club Leipzig canceled training Tuesday as the team's coronavirus outbreak grew with more cases among the staff.
Leipzig said only that there were “further positive corona cases” among the staff, without specifying how many, and that no players were among those testing positive Tuesday.
LEIPZIG, Germany (AP) — Players' shouts echoed around an empty stadium for the first time this season in the Bundesliga as coronavirus-hit Leipzig lost 3-1 to Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday.
Moussa Diaby scored one goal and assisted another for Leverkusen in a game overshadowed by the virus.
LEIPZIG, Germany (AP) — German soccer club Leipzig reported six more positive coronavirus cases on Friday following its Champions League game in Belgium against Brugge.
Defender Willi Orban, forwards Yussuf Poulsen and Hugo Novoa, and goalkeeping coach Frederik Gößling all tested positive for COVID-19 after returning from Belgium, while defender Mohamed Simakan and a member of the backroom staff were infected despite not traveling, Leipzig said.
MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester United has turned to renowned German coach Ralf Rangnick about rescuing the team's season by taking temporary charge.
No final agreement has been reached but discussions with United are ongoing about the former Leipzig coach leaving his role as head of sports and development at Lokomotiv Moscow, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Thursday.