By Rich
Julian Pollersbeck is a 23-year-old goalkeeper for Hamburger SV.  Pollersbeck was born on August 16, 1994 in Altötting, Germany and spent his youth career playing football for DJK Emmerting and Wacker Burghausen.  His senior career continued at Wacker Burghausen beginning in 2011, and in 2013 he transferred to 1. FC Kaiserslautern, where he made 78 appearances for the 1st and 2nd squads between 2013 and 2017.  He transferred to his current club in 2017.  He has also played for Germany’s U21 squad, making his debut on November 21, 2016 in a 1:0 victory over Turkey.

By Rich
​Wolfsburg and visitors Augsburg played a scoreless 0:0 draw in a driving rain on Friday.  Wolfsburg played most of the 2nd half with an extra man, after Augsburg midfielder Jan Moravek was sent off for a 2nd offense in the 54th minute.  Both clubs sit in the bottom half of the table, with Wolfsburg just out of the relegation zone, although neither club has ever been relegated:  Wolfsburg joined the 1. Bundesliga in 1997, and Augsburg in 2011.  FC Bayern München, who clinched the league championship last weekend, will welcome a new coach on July 1st:  Eintracht Frankfurt boss Niko Kovac will replace Jupp Heynckes on a 3-year deal.  Kovac has overseen Eintracht since March 2016, where he saved them from relegation and led them to the DFB Cup final in his first full season.  Kovac also meets Bayern’s criterion of having a native German speaker in charge:  he was born in Berlin and played for Bayern as a midfielder from 2001 to 2003.  The club has also made deals with wingers Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery, offering them 1-year contracts.  Both stars were in the final months of their current contracts.  Hamburg has acquired David Bates from the Rangers F.C., where he has made 21 appearances this season.  Hamburg’s scouting director cited Bates’ height and speed in announcing the transfer, which is to occur this summer.  Should Hamburg extend his record of not being relegated at the end of the season, Bates would become the 18th Brit to play in the 1. Bundesliga.  The fastest man on the planet, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, has announced that he will return to Borussia Dortmund for 3 weeks of training at the club.  Bolt spent 2 days training with Dortmund last month.  On Saturday, Bayer Leverkusen player Kai Havertz is set to become the youngest player in Bundesliga history to make 50 appearances, when Leverkusen hosts Frankfurt.  Havertz became Leverkusen’s youngest top-flight player and goalscorer at the age of 17, and on Saturday will be just 18 years and 307 days old.  Looking ahead to Sunday, one of the league’s biggest rivalries will play out again, when Schalke hosts Dortmund: just 1 point separates the 2 clubs.  The teams played to a 4:4 draw in the 1st half of the season, and that was the 1st time a team had come back from a 4-goal deficit to draw.

By Rich
​Benjamin Henrichs is a 21-year-old full-back and midfielder for Bayer 04 Leverkusen.  Henrichs was born on February 23, 1997 in Bocholt, Germany to a German father and Ghanaian mother and has played for Leverkusen since he started playing football in his youth.  His senior career and Bundesliga debut came on September 20, 2015 in a match against Borussia Dortmund, when he replaced Karim Bellarabi after 78 minutes. On November 4, 2016, he was called up to the German national squad by Joachim Löw for a World Cup qualifier against San Marino and a friendly against Italy, and that same year was awarded the Fritz Walter Medal in the U-19 category.

By Rich
​Hannover 96 broke a 5-match losing streak on Friday with a 2:1 win over nearby rivals and visitors SV Werder Bremen.  The match’s first goal came in the 17th minute when former Bremen man Martin Harnik got the ball past goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka to score his 7th goal of the season and 1st of 2018.  Hannover extended their lead at the 42nd minute when Felix Klaus took advantage of a ricochet off the goal post to score his 4th goal of the season.  Bremen finally scored in the 74th minute Ishak Belfodil headed in a low cross from the right side just under the crossbar.  While the win does not change Hannover’ position in the table, it does put more space between them and the relegation zone.  The loss snaps Bremen’s 5-game unbeaten run, and Bremen have now failed to win their last 7 visits to Hannover.  This weekend’s biggest match is certainly the derby on Saturday in Bavaria, league leader FC Bayern München travel just 49 miles to Augsburg.  A win in Augsburg would give Bayern München their 6th straight Bundesliga championship, and the statistics are clearly in Bayern’s favor.  Striker Robert Lewandowski has scored more times against Augsburg than against any other club:  18 in total, 9 of which have come in just the last 4 matches.  Bayern’s Franck Ribery will be celebrating his 35th birthday, and a championship would leave him joining Philipp Lahm, Sebastian Schweinsteiger, Oliver Kahn, and Mehmet Scholl with 8 Bundesliga titles each.  His teammate David Alaba would become the 1st player in Bundesliga history to win 7 titles by the age of 25.  At the opposite end of the table, 2 of the clubs facing relegation will battle each other 1. FC Köln host nearby 1. FSV Mainz 05 on Saturday.  The Billy Goats are anticipating the return of both defender Frederik Sörenson and Captain Jonas Hector from injuries, and a win against Mainz would reduce the relegation gap to just 3 points with 5 rounds still to play.  Mainz, on the other hand, have not scored in their last 4 matches, have not won in their last 9 Bundesliga contests, and several of their 1st-squad players were still questionable this week with injuries.  Cologne currently has the worst home record in the Bundesliga this season, and Mainz has the 3rd-worst away record.