By Rich
Florian Mayer is a 20-year-old defender for Borussia Mönchengladbach.  Mayer was born on March 4th, 1998 and spent his youth career playing for Schalke 04 from 2005 to 2013, VfL Bochum from 2013 to 2016, and Borussia Mönchengladbach from 2016 to 2017.  His senior career continued at Gladbach starting in 2017, where he has made appearances for both their reserve squad and their 1. Bundesliga squad.  Mayer also made 1 appearance each for Germany’s U19 and U20 teams in 2017, which included a full 90 minutes against Denmark in a 3:1 victory.

By Rich
A hat trick from striker Andrej Kramaric allowed Hoffenheim to down visiting Hannover 3:1 on Friday.  Kramaric scored his 1st goal in the 16th minute off a pass from Serge Gnabry, and scored 2 further goals in the 50th minute and 86th minute, keeping them in the hunt for the Europa League and just 2 points behind Borussia Dortmund and 1 point ahead of Bayer 04 Leverkusen.  Hannover’s lone goal came in the 24th minute from Kenan Karaman, and it was his 1st goal of the season.  Kramaric’s goals were his 8th, 9th, and 10th goals since the beginning of 2018, placing him just behind Bayern’s Robert Lewandowski in goals scored this year.  Borussia Dortmund midfielder Nuri Sahin announced on Twitter that he has been accepted into a course at Harvard Business School, but plans to combine his studies with his BVB responsibilities.  Sahin is not the only Bundesliga player to get involved in academic activities recently:  Robert Lewandowski completed a course in 2017 in physical education with coaching and management at Warsaw’s School of Education in Sport, while Augsburg striker Alfre∂ Finnbogason and Hertha Berlin defender Jordan Torunarigha also completed courses of their own last year.  Cologne legend Lukas Podolski, who joined ​Japan’s Vissel Kobe last summer, wrote in an article for Germany’s Bild that he would love to play for his hometown club a third and final time before retiring.  Podolski, who is 32 now, joined 1. FC Köln at the age of 10 and ultimately scored 79 goals for the club in 169 league appearances.  If he returns, he could play alongside Jonas Hector and Timo Horn, who recently signed contract extensions that did not include release clauses they could have used in the event the club is relegated.  The big match on Saturday occurs when Eintracht Frankfurt travel to Munich to take on the league champions.  Frankfurt coach Niko Kovac won both of the season’s matches as a player in 2002-2003, and will take over as coach at Bayern next season.  The stats clearly point to a win for Bayern, as they have won the pair’s last 4 Bundesliga encounters and Bayern have not lost any of their last 37 Bundesliga home matches.  Frankfurt, on the other hand, have lost their last 5 away matches.  Looking ahead to Sunday, Schalke may move closer to securing a 2nd-place finish when they host Gladbach, while Gladbach are still in the hunt for a Europa League spot.  Schalke have won 13 of their last 17 home matches against the Foals.

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.