Football Season Guide

Mainz enjoyed an excellent campaign last season as they secured their best ever finish since 2016 that saw them return to Europe with a sixth placed finish. Mainz overcame a slow start to the season and put up a great run midway through the campaign, even emerging as potential candidates for a top four finish, though loss of form in the final weeks saw them just about hold out for the sixth place. Bo Henriksen has overseen an improvement in Mainz since taking over back in February 2024 but faces a big test for the upcoming campaign after seeing his top scorer Jonathan Burkardt being sold to Eintracht Frankfurt. While that has been their only significant departure so far, Mainz have also failed to add convincing options to the squad this season. Benedict Hollerbach has been brought in as replacement to Burkardt but the attacker has failed to hit double figures in the two seasons with Union Berlin. Nelson Weiper is expected to see more minutes this season after brief cameo appearances last time around while Sota Kawasaki arrives on loan to improve their options in the center of the midfield, especially following Edimilson Fernandes and Tom Krauß's departures. Familiarity does offer stability to Mainz heading into the new season but an inexperienced attack could prove to be an Achilles heel for the club who will be hard pressed to repeat another European finish this time around.