Football Season Guide

Eintracht Frankfurt will be looking to re-establish themselves as a mid-table side this season following what was a disappointing campaign last time around. Frankfurt had kicked off the season high on expectations after Armin Veh was reappointed as the new coach but injuries to key players, including Alexander Meier who had been their top scorer in each of the previous four campaigns, meant that their campaign did not take off as expected and they struggled in and out of the relegation zone for much of the season. Veh was finally sacked in March with Niko Kovac appointed in his place but the change looked to have no effect in preventing them from dropping out of the Bundesliga and only a late surge in form helped them finish 16th in the league table and qualify for the relegation playoffs in which they successfully managed to see off the challenge from Nurnberg. Kovac will now be looking forward to his first full season as a club coach and will be hoping that his side can pick up from where they had left off at the end of last campaign. Kovac's task though will not be made easy after Frankfurt lost two of its key players in Carlos Zambrano and Stefan Aigner. Zambrano had been the first choice in the central defense position but has since moved on to Rubin Kazan while Aigner has left the club for 1860 Munchen. With Marco Russ receiving treatment after being diagnosed with cancer at the end of last season, the defender is not expected to be part of the squad at least until after the winter break, leaving Kovac with a number of problems when it comes to personnel. Frankfurt have not spent much during the summer, with majority of their arrivals being loan signings though they have managed to get in a couple of quality names with Jesus Vallejo, Ante Rebic and Branimir Hrgota likely to play an important role this season. Omar Mascarell has also arrived from Real Madrid and the midfielder is expected to provide some much needed cover in front of the defense, an area where Frankfurt have been weak over the last couple of seasons. Their biggest signing so far has been Taleb Tawatha from Maccabi Haifa and the Israeli defender will be competing with Bastian Oczipka for the left back spot. For all the new arrivals though, it will be players already at the club such as Meier and Haris Seferovic who will be key and Frankfurt's hopes of a successful season will largely depend on whether they will be able to keep injury problems to a minimum this season