1. FC Nürnberg 2026/27 season preview: Transfers, pre-season, predicted lineup & predictions

Nürnberg have been slowly creeping up the 2. Bundesliga standings under head coach and former German international Miroslav Klose, finishing 8th this past season. Klose, whose contract with the club was extended until 2028 back in February, will look to continue the mission of incrementally improving Nürnberg’s standings, and perhaps even start challenging for promotion this season. 

Coming into their first game against Dynamo Dresden, Nürnberg have had a busy transfer window with a multitude of departures and arrivals, alongside a pre-season tour that gave us an early look into the squad’s capabilities. So what has Nürnberg been up to this season, and what can we expect to see this season from Die Legende? 

Transfers

The biggest question this season will be how fast Nürnberg’s revamped defense will settle. 

Having conceded just 45 goals in 2025/26 (the same amount as 5th place Darmstadt and 3rd place Paderborn), the departures of Henri Koudossou, Fabio Gruber and Luka Lochoshivili will definitely be missed. But that is not to say that Nürnberg’s replacements haven’t shown their promise in the pre-season. 

The arrivals of Alexios Karogelopolous from Olympiacos and Fynn Otto from Verl on free transfers have been excellent pieces of business, with both players likely to fill in the void at both centreback positions.

Another defensive addition to look out for is Senegalese centreback Mikayil Faye, who joined on a one-year loan deal from French side Stade Rennais. Faye already has an impressive resume at 22 having played for the likes of Barcelona’s B team and Cremonese in the Italian Serie A, and will certainly be a key player this season. 

On the offensive side, the signings of Rayan Ghrieb from Magdeburg (fee of €600k) and Can Moustfa from Cottbus (fee undisclosed) will give Klose a mix of 2nd and 3rd division experience, as well as additional options to a side that desperately needs goal-scoring options. Both Ghrieb and Moustfa have already impressed in the pre-season with a combined 3 goals between them. 

Pre-season

The pre-season was a big success for Nürnberg, who went undefeated against both domestic and European opposition winning 4 games and drawing one. 

Nürnberg opened their pre-season in July with a 0-10 demolition job of 5th tier outfit TSV Kornburg (their last matchup coming almost exactly 10 years ago to the day!), followed by another relatively easy 1-5 victory over Regionalliga side SpVgg Ansbach. 

The 3rd pre-season match came against Waldhof Mannheim. The 3. Liga side gave Nürnberg their first adversity in the pre-season after going up 1-2 at the 64th minute, before substitute Pete Scobel scored both the equalizer and a stoppage-time goal to win the game for Nürnberg 3-2. 

The 4th matchup came against Palermo from Italy’s Serie B, marking their first ever meeting. Nürnberg went up 2-0 with a double by Mohamed Ali Zoma before squandering the lead and ultimately drawing the game 2-2, including a goal by former Bundesliga journeyman Joel Pohjanpalo. 

Nürnberg’s final pre-season match came against Real Oviedo who play in Spain’s Segunda División. 2 early goals from Zoma and Scobel proved to be enough despite later receiving 2 red cards (Janisch 54’, Markhiev 62’), marking Nürnberg’s first (and hopefully not the last!) victory at home in the Max-Morlock-Stadion this season. 

Predicted lineups

Jan Reichert is the clear candidate to start as Nürnberg’s shot-stopper this season, but in front of him will be an entirely different backline. 

Tim Janisch and Eric Porstner are the likely options in the fullback positions, and we can expect to see new signings Kalogeropolous and Otto hold it down at the centreback positions. We could see Faye implemented in the starting XI once he is fully fit, giving Klose more depth at the back. 

In the middle, we will certainly see the same pairing of Adam Markhiev and Fernández that we saw the season before, although there will be less depth with the departure of Baack which could hurt in the long run. 

Finally, Nürnberg’s offense will also likely stay the same with Finn Ole Becker at the 10 with Justvan and Lubach on the wings. With how in-form Zoma is coming into the new season, his name will definitely be coming up at the front on numerous occasions this season. 

It will be interesting to see how Scobel in particular is utilised, as he could very well start games potentially alongside or behind Zoma, or come off as a super-sub to give Nürnberg a burst of scoring energy. 

4-2-3-1: Reichert - Janisch, Kalogeropolous, Otto, Porstner - Markhiev, Fernández - Lubach, Becker, Justvan - Zoma 

Predictions

Since relegation from the top flight in 2018/19, Nürnberg fans have had to endure a string of mid to low table finishes, including an astonishing last gasp series winner in the 2019/2020 2. Bundesliga relegation playoff that would’ve otherwise seen the club relegated to the 3. Liga (which would’ve been their first in Germany’s modern football pyramid). 

But now, Nürnberg have turned a new leaf under Klose and the 2026/27 iteration of this squad will be one to watch out for this season. 

If we are to go off the pre-season at all, the performances put up by Nürnberg have been highly promising. Not only did the new defensive signings hold it together, but the performances on the offensive end (especially last season’s top goalscorer for the team, Zoma) have also shown how dangerous this Nürnberg team can be. 

In recent years, we have seen a slew of fallen giants make their comeback to the Bundesliga. In 2024/25, both Köln and Hamburger SV made their returns, the latter after a 7-year absence from the top flight. Last season, Schalke topped the league to mark their return after 3 years. Nürnberg, having been mired in the 2nd division for 12 out of the last 13 seasons (this season will mark their 8th consecutive 2. Bundesliga campaign), present a solid case for being next on the list. 

While an automatic promotion spot may be just out of reach for Der Altmeister (The Old Master), if Nürnberg can get it going this season (especially on the offensive end), a 3rd-place promotion playoff is absolutely within the realm of possibility for this squad. Even if Nürnberg aren’t promoted, we are still likely to see an improvement in the standings for this team given the steady trajectory of the past few seasons under Klose (10th 2024/25, 8th 2025/26… perhaps 6th this season?). 

One final statistic to excite Nürnberg fans is that the last time the team finished in a position better than 8th, they were promoted to the Bundesliga (2nd in 2017/18). Perhaps then this could very well be the season where lightning strikes twice for the 9-time Bundesliga champions!