SC Freiburg vs. Union Berlin preview: Freiburg look to continue title push against struggling Union

Ironically, the 640km separating Berlin and Freiburg im Breisgau is a pretty accurate representation of where the teams currently sit on the table: with a win, Freiburg can push their way back into 3rd place as they continue hunting for a UEFA Champions League spot and maintain their pressure on Dortmund and Bayern, while Union Berlin could potentially sink back down into the relegation zone depending on Schalke’s outcome. 

Will we see a shock at the Europa-Park Stadion, or will we see the points gap between both sides continue to widen?

SC Freiburg

Let’s begin with the home side, SC Freiburg. 

Freiburg have been on a burner to commence the 2026/27 season with 5 wins, 3 draws and a solitary loss only coming against champions Bayern München, along with a respectable +8GD (18 goals scored). In addition to this, Freiburg ensured their Pokal survival by staving off recently relegated Wolfsburg with a last-gasp winner by Keisuke Gotō. The team from Baden-Württemberg also had a healthy start to their Conference League campaign with 2 wins and 1 loss, their most recent result being a 1-0 away win against Trabzonspor. 

To go back to the Bundesliga, Freiburg managed to overcome a 1-0 deficit to Augsburg to come away from Bavaria with a 2-1 win in their most recent match. A win against Union Berlin would see them not only move back up to 3rd, but also come to within 2 points of league leaders Borussia Dortmund and Bayern München. 

Apart from their 3-1 loss to Bayern München, Freiburg have been otherwise flawless at home and look poised to strike while the iron’s hot as they push for a first-ever UCL qualification. 

A duo to watch this match will certainly be the strike partnership of Igor Matanović and Yuito Suzuki, who account for 8 goals (4 goals each) - nearly half of Freiburg’s total goals this season. 

Team news 

SC Freiburg will be without Florent Muslija and Patrick Osterhage. 

Union Berlin

Ironically, the club known as “Eisern Union” (Iron Union) seem to have let their iron cool down as they sit near the bottom of the table as one of the league's most out of form teams. 

Since shocking the footballing world by qualifying for the UCL in the 2022/23 season, Union Berlin has in fact looked quite malleable in recent seasons (I promise that’s the last metal-related joke I will make!), with this season shaping up to be a relegation survival battle for the Berliners. 

With only 1 win in 8 games thus far (4D, 3L), Union squandered their previous Bundesliga matchup against 1. FC Köln at home, losing out on some much needed points with direct relegation rivals. This followed a 5-0 battering by that very same Köln team in the Pokal less than a week prior. 

The bad news for Union continues if we look at their away form thus far - in just 3 matches, Union has drawn 1 and lost 2, with a shocking -11 goal differential (1 scored, 12 conceded), by far the worst in the league. 

With local rivals Hertha Berlin having just beaten top-of-the-table rivals Wolfsburg and continuing their flawless run in the 2. Bundesliga (10W, 1D, and a +16 GD), the pressure is surely beginning to mount on Union securing their status as Berlin’s best team. 

Team news 

Union Berlin will miss the likes of Andrej Iic, Stanley Nsoki, Andrik Markgraf and Robert Skov. Felix Uduokhai remains out via suspension after his red card against Augsburg. 

H2H 

To give Union fans a bit of hope, Freiburg have had a shaky record in recent years against the team from Berlin. 

Union have been flawless against Freiburg in their last 7 matches (4 wins, 3 draws, and outscoring Freiburg 9:4), with their last loss occurring nearly 4 years ago to the day. Union is also currently on a 2-game winning streak against Freiburg when playing in the Europa-Park Stadion. 

This does come with a caveat however, which is that both sides were a lot closer in regards to form and table positioning in the same fixture last season - in 2025/26, Freiburg was 8th (34 points, -5 GD) while Union was 11th (28 points, -12 GD). This time, 16th place Union (7 points, -12 GD) will really have to punch up if they want to win against 4th place Freiburg (16 points, +8 GD). 

If Union Berlin are to regain their form, perhaps they can make it happen against Freiburg and potentially eke out another win to pick up some much needed points and create some separation at the bottom of the table.