1. FSV Mainz 05 looked like a certain relegation last season. Now the Rhenish Hessians can set their sights on the European ranks. About an extraordinary year.
A look back: In February, the Mainz 05 players snuck off the pitch with hanging heads after the 1:3 defeat at VfB Stuttgart and only bold optimists believed that the Rheinhessen team could stay in the league. Nine points behind the saving bank, one (!) win from 21 games this season – a disastrous result.
Jan Siewert, who initially took over as Bo Svensson’s successor on an interim basis and was later declared head coach, was unable to stop the sporting decline. He had to leave after the game in Stuttgart.
Bo Henriksen takes over and saves the day
So a new coach was sought, for the second time in a season for the Mainz team, who are otherwise focused on continuity. Ultimately, Bo Henriksen was found. The Dane came from FC Zurich and made an astonishing appearance when he was introduced. There was no trace of doubt about staying in the league; instead, the new man radiated pure power and motivation.
And indeed: under Henriksen, the 05ers made a brilliant comeback and secured relegation. “Motivational artists,” said quite a few back then. But is that enough if he and his team don’t have their backs to the wall?
What Henriksen has ahead of Klopp and Tuchel
Henriksen has now played 27 games as Mainz coach and has a points average of 1.67. This puts him well ahead of Thomas Tuchel (1.41), Bo Svensson (1.3) or club icon Jürgen Klopp (1.13). Before the last Bundesliga game of the year at Eintracht Frankfurt (Saturday, December 21st, 2024 from 3:30 p.m. in the live ticker and audio stream on sportschau.de), Mainz are in seventh place with 22 points – ahead of Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund.
Mainz dupes Bayern
It was clear in the summer that the Mainz team was facing a change. Central defender Sepp van den Berg, who was on loan from Liverpool and was extremely strong in the second half of the season, did not return to the 05ers; two sporting pillars, Brajan Gruda and Leandro Barreiro, left the club. The start of the season was shaky, with the Rheinhessen team not really finding their feet in the first few weeks. The Henriksen team struggled especially in their own arena.
But then the team got rolling, played better and better football and finally got twelve points from the last five Bundesliga games. With the preliminary highlight being that Mainz duped FC Bayern last Saturday and inflicted their first defeat of the season on the record champions in a fully deserved 2-1 win. If there were a title for “Team of the Year given the circumstances,” Mainz would be a hot candidate.
Burkardt as Germany’s top goalscorer
In addition to Henriksen, whom sports director Christian Heidel explicitly confirmed during the summer break that he was more than a firefighter, two professionals from the team stood out on the pitch: attackers Jonathan Burkardt and Nadiem Amiri. Not Deniz Undav, not Jamal Musiala, but Burkardt is the most successful German goalscorer in the Bundesliga in the current calendar year with 18 goals.
And that despite the fact that the 24-year-old is repeatedly set back by injuries. Most recently he had to go out early against Bayern due to a thigh injury and will be out for several weeks. If he is spared from injuries for a longer period of time next year, he could appear permanently where he made his debut in the fall: with the national team.
Amiri as a stroke of luck for Mainz 05
In the 2-1 win against Bayern (both goals by Jae-sung Lee), the 05ers compensated surprisingly well for the loss of their captain. Once again Amiri played a major role in this. The 28-year-old came from Leverkusen in January and quickly became a defining figure in the Mainz game.
The Ludwigshafen native was a real stroke of luck on the transfer market. The midfield strategist had aroused the interest of numerous clubs in the summer, but remained loyal to the 05ers – including extending his contract. At Rheinhessen, Amiri is once again impressive this season with his ball and pass security combined with good ideas in the attacking third. In addition, there are extremely dangerous standard situations.
“We didn’t start the new season so well, but now we’re rewarding ourselves. I hope it continues like this,” Amiri said a few weeks ago when he was a guest in the studio on SWR Sport. He must have spoken from the hearts of the 05 fans. At least it currently doesn’t look like we’ll see Mainz footballers with hanging heads again next February.
