Football Season Guide

Bielefeld will be playing second tier football again this season after they fell to relegation from the top flight. They competed well in the Bundesliga during their two campaigns, but the lack of victories and goals eventually cost them. Previous boss Frank Kramer was bizarrely shown the door in April last season with only 4 games remaining. Goalkeeping coach Marco Kostermann took temporary charge but it proved too little too late to keep them in the division. The club has appointed Uli Forte as their new coach and he has got to work over the summer to build for the new season. The Italian is new to German football but has had good success in the Swiss league previously. Bielefeld haven’t been massively busy in the transfer market but have made solid replacements for outgoing defenders Pieper and Nielsen. Experienced centre-back Oliver Husing has been brought in from Heidenheim, while hot prospect Frederik Jakel joins on loan from Leipzig. Having been relegated, Bielefeld naturally lost some of their better players during the summer. Goalkeeper Ortega will be a big loss after his move to Manchester City and Patrick Wimmer to Wolfsburg will also hurt them. Midfield trio Kunze, Schopf and Castro have also left the club. Scoring goals has been a big problem over the past few seasons and not much has been done to address this yet. The drop down in class should naturally see them create more chances but it could again be an area of concern.