The new Bundesliga season. A glimpse into the future. Who will be the winners?

Hamburger SV host Borussia Mönchengladbach in a Bundesliga Matchday 9 clash on Friday, 6 November 2026, with kick-off at 19:30 CET at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg. Both sides come into this fixture searching for consistency after wildly contrasting runs of form, and their recent head-to-head history offers few clues: the last two league meetings between these clubs, in August 2025 and January 2026, both ended in goalless draws. With HSV pushing to climb into the top half and Gladbach desperate to build on a rare away win, an open contest is expected under the Hamburg lights.

The home side's 2026/27 campaign has been a tale of two halves. Merlin Polzin's team lost their opening three Bundesliga matches by a combined 12-0 scoreline, then responded superbly with three straight victories, including a hard-fought 1-0 home win over VfB Stuttgart secured by Miro Muheim's late strike. That momentum has since evaporated: HSV fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat at promoted Paderborn, where Philippe struck an 88th-minute winner (1-0), before slipping to a 3-1 loss at Eintracht Frankfurt last weekend despite Terem Moffi's equaliser (3-1). Daniel Heuer Fernandes is set to start in goal behind a back three of Shafiq Nandja, Sebastiaan Bornauw and Warmed Omari, with Yussuf Poulsen and Fábio Vieira leading the line in Polzin's 3-5-2 system.

Borussia Dortmund host newly promoted SV Elversberg at Signal Iduna Park on Saturday, 7 November 2026, in a Bundesliga Matchday 9 clash that pits second against seventh. Niko Kovač's side are unbeaten in the league this season and sit locked on 18 points with Bayern Munich, having twice come from behind to snatch a 2-2 draw against the champions in Der Klassiker last weekend. The Black and Yellows also edged a thrilling DFB-Pokal tie against Werder Bremen by 3-2 and kept a clean sheet in their 1-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt, underlining a 2026/27 squad built around Gregor Kobel in goal, defenders Joane Gadou, Waldemar Anton, Nico Schlotterbeck and Daniel Svensson, a midfield of Jobe Bellingham, Felix Nmecha, Joey Veerman, Carney Chukwuemeka and Maximilian Beier, and the fearsome strike duo of Serhou Guirassy and Fábio Silva, with Marcel Sabitzer, Ethan Nwaneri and Konstantinos Karetsas providing depth.

Elversberg, meanwhile, have been one of the surprise packages of the 2026/27 campaign in their first-ever Bundesliga season, collecting 13 points from eight games under coach Vincent Wagner. Die SVE produced a statement result last time out, thrashing Mainz 4-1 with a late acrobatic finish from Cole Campbell, the American winger signed from none other than Borussia Dortmund for €6 million in the summer. However, their away form remains a concern, as shown by the heavy 4-0 defeat at RB Leipzig, and they will have to cope without injured trio Jan Gyamerah, Tom Zimmerschied and Noah Darvich, with keeper Nicolas Kristof, defenders Lukas Pinckert and Maurice Neubauer, midfielders Lukasz Poreba, Lukas Petkov and Filip Onyeka, and forwards David Mokwa and Muhammed Krattenmacher tasked with holding the line at the 81,365-capacity Westfalenstadion.

Mainz 05 host unbeaten Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich at the MEWA Arena on Saturday, 7 November 2026 (kick-off 15:30 CET), with the visitors looking to extend their perfect start to the 2026/27 season. Bayern arrive in red-hot form, having scored 20 goals in their last five games, while Mainz are reeling from back-to-back league defeats. The 05ers were thrashed 4-1 at Elversberg on Friday night, a result made worse by suspensions to Stefan Posch (sent off late on) and Phillipp Mwene (fifth yellow card of the season), both of whom will miss the visit of Bayern. Before that, Urs Fischer's side lost a thriller at home to Werder Bremen, going down 2-3 despite creating the better chances, though they did win their trip to Gelsenkirchen 1-0 earlier in the month.

Bayern, meanwhile, remain flawless domestically and come into the fixture top of the table, averaging 3.4 goals per game compared to Mainz's 2.1, and a dominant 69% average possession. Vincent Kompany's side were held to a 2-2 draw by Borussia Dortmund in Saturday's Klassiker, Jonas Urbig making four saves to preserve the point, but they remain the only unbeaten side in the division. The Bavarians' 2026/27 squad is stacked with quality: Manuel Neuer remains first-choice goalkeeper behind a defence of Dayot Upamecano, Kim Min-jae, Jonathan Tah and Alphonso Davies, with Joshua Kimmich and Aleksandar Pavlović anchoring midfield. Summer arrivals Ismaël Saibari (from PSV) and Nathaniel Brown (from Eintracht Frankfurt), signed for around €50 million each, have slotted straight in, while the attacking quartet of Harry Kane, Michael Olise, Luis Díaz and Jamal Musiala has been devastating — Olise already has 12 goals this season.

SC Paderborn 07 host Eintracht Frankfurt in the 2026/2027 Bundesliga on Saturday, 7 November 2026, with kick-off set for 15:30 CET at Home Deluxe Arena. Paderborn arrive 14th with 9 points after a compact recent run: a goalless league draw at Borussia Mönchengladbach in their latest outing 0-0, a narrow home win over Hamburger SV 1-0, plus a 2-2 draw at Werder Bremen; their blemishes came against Stuttgart in league and cup, leaving them encouraged by defensive resilience but still short of cutting edge.

Eintracht Frankfurt sit eighth on 11 points and bring the more volatile profile: a 3-1 home defeat of Hamburg 3-1 and a 1-0 win over FC Köln 1-0 show their ceiling, while the 1-0 loss at Borussia Dortmund and the heavy 6-0 defeat at RB Leipzig earlier in October explain why the market still prices them only moderately ahead despite superior attacking numbers.

RB Leipzig host FC Augsburg at the Red Bull Arena on Saturday, 7 November 2026 (15:30 CET) in a Bundesliga Round 9 clash, and the hosts arrive as clear favourites with the bookmakers. European odds price a Leipzig home win at around 1.45, the draw at 4.75 and an Augsburg away win at 6.50, reflecting Leipzig's superb record in this fixture — they are unbeaten in their last 19 meetings with Augsburg (13 wins, 6 draws). Leipzig bounced back from the 6-1 humbling at Bayern Munich with a commanding 4-0 home win over Elversberg and a professional 0-2 away victory at Schalke, keeping them firmly in the top half of the 2026/27 table.

Augsburg, meanwhile, travel to Saxony with a lengthy injury list and inconsistent form. Jess Thorup's side fell to a 1-2 home defeat to Freiburg last time out and could only manage a draw against Union Berlin, though they did edge past Sonnenhof Großaspach 2-4 in the DFB-Pokal. The visitors will be without suspended defender Juma Bah as well as injured trio Steve Mounié, Calvin Brackelmann and Tim Breithaupt, further weakening a defence that has already leaked goals this season.

VfB Stuttgart host Werder Bremen at the MHPArena on Saturday, 7 November 2026 (17:30 UTC) in a compelling Bundesliga 2026/27 Round 9 clash. Both sides arrive in very different moods: Stuttgart are battling in the lower half of the table and badly need home points, while Werder Bremen have been one of the surprise packages of the early season and currently sit inside the top six. With the reverse fixture at the Weserstadion already pencilled in for March 2027, this weekend's meeting is the first league chapter of a season-long duel between Sebastian Hoeness's Swabians and Daniel Thioune's Green-Whites.

Stuttgart's recent form has been a rollercoaster. They were outstanding in a 2-4 away win at Bayer Leverkusen, ground out a narrow 1-0 victory at Paderborn, but then collapsed 2-3 at home to Borussia Monchengladbach in their most recent league outing, and also fell 1-0 to Hamburg. The hosts will again be without several key men: Dan-Axel Zagadou, Josha Vagnoman, Angelo Stiller, Justin Diehl and Leo Sauer are all unavailable, which forces Hoeness to lean on Alexander Nübel in goal, Julian Chabot and Luca Jaquez at centre-back, with Bilal El Khannouss, Deniz Undav and Ermedin Demirovic or Tiago Tomas supplying the firepower.