Key dates ahead of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season

HSV will be back in the Bundesliga next season for the first time in seven years, having been in the top flight for nearly 55 years without interruption since the league was founded in 1963. "The Bundesliga will get to know a different HSV than the one it said goodbye to seven years ago – with maximum ambition, the necessary humility, respect for the task at hand and yet always with courage and a realistic view of the situation," HSV head coach Merlin Polzin said following the team's promotion-winning celebrations at city hall on 19th May.  

The Bundesliga as a league has also changed since then, as a look at the standings suggests. Back in 2017/18, when the Rothosen were relegated after finishing 17th, now Bundesliga 2 side FC Schalke 04 finished second, TSG Hoffenheim finished third instead of 15th and this season’s European sides Freiburg (5th) and Mainz (6th) came in 15th and 14th respectively. However, one thing that hasn’t changed much since then are the teams in the league. While Schalke, Hertha BSC and Hannover 96 are all currently down in the second division, 1. FC Union Berlin, FC St. Pauli and 1. FC Heidenheim (currently taking part in the relegation play-off against SV Elversberg) would all represent new faces in the Bundesliga for HSV – although the Rothosen have come up against them in the second division in the past.