1. FC Union winters in eighth place – far from any relegation worries. Things looked completely different a year ago. What coach Steffen Baumgart has to do with this development and why he reminds us of Urs Fischer.
You can easily imagine how Union President Dirk Zingler and his sports director Horst Heldt celebrated Christmas a year ago: with deep worry lines and in close exchange. Their coach Bo Svensson, who was only hired in the summer, failed. After two months without a win, he lost the last game of the year 1:4 in Bremen and union lurched towards the relegation zone.
Those responsible had seen enough. A new coach was needed, and quickly. Svensson’s successor Steffen Baumgart was in charge of the first game of the new year. And it is thanks to this decision that Zingler and Heldt can spend this Christmas much more contemplatively.
Baumgart has stabilized the Union again
After a bad start, Baumgart led Union to confidently stay in the league and to eighth place in the table this season. After 15 games, the lead over the relegation place is nine points.
Relegation is not in danger, especially since… 1-0 win at the end of the year against 1. FC Köln brought with it two important developments. The inconsistent Unioners won two games in a row for the first time this season and also distanced themselves from a rival to stay in the Bundesliga. In a foreign place! So everything is great. Or, Mr. Baumgart? “We know it wasn’t a win because we were better for 90 minutes,” said the coach.
One of Steffen Baumgart’s peculiarities is this: When his team loses and perhaps plays poorly, the coach tends to praise them in post-game interviews. Critics could therefore accuse him of trying to sugarcoat poor performance. But only if you don’t know his interviews after victories. Baumgart likes to curb the euphoria and point out that a lot of things didn’t work. “Completely satisfied,” was all he said after that 3-1 win against RB Leipzig.
In Fischer’s footsteps
This shows how meticulously Baumgart is working on the further development of his team. For the trained car mechanic, the work is never finished. He proved how pragmatic he is at the beginning of his term when he abandoned his failed experiment of playing more offensively with the help of a back four and went back to Urs Fischer’s tried and tested 5-3-2.
Although Baumgart, with his extroverted and loud manner on the sidelines, is as similar to Fischer as a bull is to a mouse, his team is again playing the football for which they were known under the Swiss. Union is at the top in terms of running statistics, hardly has the ball and under Baumgart scores every second goal from a standard.
The team has regained a self-image that was missing during the turbulent times under Nenad Bjelica and Svensson. The victory in Cologne was the perfect example. Union defended with concentration, allowed almost no chance and decided the game after a corner. “You have to be patient in front of such a loud crowd, that was also our match plan today,” said Rani Khedira. Ripped off.
Possession of the ball is still too harmless
Baumgart said something else that reveals a lot about his team’s level of performance: “If it ends 0-0, everyone will probably go home happy.” In the offensive game, the Berliners still lack solutions. The game creates far too few chances and Union finds it particularly difficult to create goals against deep opponents. Changing that without sacrificing defensive stability will be the big task for the coming year.
Many young players who are developing well under Baumgart so far give hope. When Aljoscha Kemlein directs the game from midfield, something like control of the game arises at times. Striker Ilyas Ansah has gotten used to the Bundesliga in his first six months and winger Livan Burcu showed after his substitution in Cologne how he can get past defenders with speed and dribbling strength. All three of them, together with the 22-year-old defense chief Leopold Querfeld, should become the framework of a new Union team.
Doekhi and Leite could go
The fact that Querfeld is developing so splendidly under Baumgart comes at just the right time. With Diogo Leite and Danilho Doekhi, Union is in danger of losing two important defenders. Their contracts expire in the summer and they don’t want to extend them. It is not unlikely that at least one of the two will leave in the winter to collect some money.
This would be a bitter loss for Baumgart, whose success in the first half was largely due to the fact that the defense was solid and his defenders were very dangerous at set pieces. The good points from the first 15 games are all the more important. Compensating for such departures through the collective was one of Urs Fischer’s greatest strengths. Here’s to a quiet Christmas at the Alte Försterei.
Broadcast: rbb|24, December 25, 2025, 8:00 a.m
