Freiburg vs. Wolfsburg – News and Probable Lineups

Freiburg will look to recover from their Bundesliga setback with a victory over Wolfsburg on Wednesday at Europa-Park Stadion during the second round of the DFB-Pokal.

The hosts faced a 3-1 loss to Bayern Munich on Sunday, and after experiencing a tough run of form, they will be eager to rebound against their 2. Bundesliga rivals.

Match overview

Few teams would have managed to secure points against Bayern, but it will be particularly disheartening for Freiburg that they allowed centre-back Dayot Upamecano to score first, completely unmarked, as he raced out from his own defensive area.

This defeat marked the third consecutive loss for Freiburg across all competitions, having previously fallen 3-0 to Mônaco in the Conference League on October 22 and 2-1 to Bayer Leverkusen in the league four days earlier.

Julian Schuster’s team currently sits in third place with 13 points, and while the head coach may reason that a four-point gap to the top two is manageable, they are only three points ahead of eighth place in the league.

Breisgau-Brasilianer comfortably defeated Dusseldorf 5-1 in the first round of the DFB-Pokal on August 23, and although they were eliminated in the second round the previous season, they have reached at least the semi-finals of this tournament three times since the 2021-22 season.

Freiburg was flawless at home in Europa-Park Stadion before the match against Bayern, winning all five matches played there prior to the weekend.

Wolfsburg competed in the top tier during the 2025-26 season but were relegated to the 2. Bundesliga after finishing 16th and losing in the relegation playoff against Paderborn.

The Wolves are presently fourth in the second division, accumulating 16 points from nine league games, just two points shy of the promotion playoff position in third.

Tobias Strobl’s squad has not secured a victory in their last four encounters with Freiburg, suffering three defeats, although he wasn’t the head coach for any of those matches.

Wolfsburg is currently undefeated in their last four fixtures, having won twice while scoring 13 goals and conceding seven.

The visitors have played six away games this season, but they have drawn two and lost one of their last three away matches, with their only victory coming against Altglienicke in the DFB-Pokal in August, via a penalty shootout.

Team News

Freiburg believes they have a solid chance to progress in the DFB-Pokal, so it wouldn’t be unexpected for key players like Igor Matanovic and Jan-Niklas Beste to feature in the forward line.

However, with Yannik Engelhardt’s fitness in question due to a hip issue, it seems unlikely that Schuster would take a risk by including him in midfield, which may lead to Patrick Osterhage joining Maximilian Eggestein.

Goalkeeper Florian Muller might be included in the starting lineup, poised to be protected by centre-backs Max Rosenfelder and Philipp Lienhart.

Wolfsburg midfielder Mattias Svanberg has been ruled out until mid-November, so Yannick Gerhardt and Vinicius Souza are likely to form a double pivot in the midfield.

For the Wolves to be victorious, forwards Alexander Bernhardsson, Muhammed Mehmet Damar, Alessio Besio, and Robert Glatzel will need to be at their peak.

Freiburg probable starting XI:

Muller; Kubler, Rosenfelder, Lienhart, Makengo; Eggestein, Osterhage; Best, Suzuki, Grifo; Matanovic

Wolfsburg probable starting XI:

Wellenreuther; Kumbedi, Wahl, Cleiton, Maehle; Gerhardt, Vinicius; Bernhardsson, Damar, Besio; Glatzel

Wednesday’s match may be closely contested at times, particularly given the hosts’ recent struggles for form.

Nonetheless, Freiburg’s remarkable home record should make them clear favourites to progress to the next round of the DFB-Pokal.