By Rich

Nico Schlotterbeck is a 20-year-old centre-back for Sport-Club Freiburg. Schlotterbeck was born on December 1, 1999 in Waiblingen, Germany and spent his youth career playing for VfR Aalen, Karlsruher SC, and SC Freiburg. His senior career continued at SC Freiburg II beginning in 2018, and he made his professional debut for the senior squad on March 9, 2019, when he came on the pitch as a half-time substitute for Philipp Lienhart in a 2:1 win over Hertha Berlin. Schlotterbeck has also played for Germany’s U18, U19, U20, and U21 squads, scoring 2 goals in 11 appearances. Schlotterbeck is the nephew of Niels Schlotterbeck, who also played for Freiburg, and is the younger brother of Keven Schlotterbeck, who plays for 1. FC Union Berlin.

By Rich

​The Bundesliga season ends this weekend, and although FC Bayern München have already won their 8th consecutive league title, qualification for the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League is still in contention, and several clubs in both the 1. Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga are looking at relegation or promotion. Bayern and Dortmund have already secured spots in the Champions League, and Leipzig, Gladbach, and Leverkusen are still in contention for the remaining 2 spots for the group stage. Although Leverkusen could still mathematically catch up to Leipzig on points, Leipzig’s superior goal differential has all but assured them a spot. Gladbach could secure their spot with a win on Saturday over Hertha, and even a draw would probably suffice, as Leverkusen would otherwise need to defeat Mainz by at least 9 goals. In the Europa League, final positions are still to be allocated among Gladbach, Leverkusen, Wolfsburg, and Hoffenheim. 7th place could ultimately be decided between Wolfsburg and Hoffenheim on goal differential. The teams with nothing to play for on Saturday other than their final positions in the table are Freiburg, Frankfurt, Hertha, Schalke, Union Berlin, Mainz, Köln, and Augsburg. At the bottom of the table, Paderborn have already secured relegation, while the relegation play-off and automatic relegation spots are still to be decided between Düsseldorf and Bremen. Bremen must win at home against Köln to even have a chance at the relegation play-off spot, and such a play-off could produce an exciting derby against Hamburg. Bremen would then also need a Düsseldorf loss away at Union Berlin. Should Düsseldorf draw in their match, Bremen would need to beat Köln by at least 4 goals. Otherwise, a Düsseldorf win means Bremen is automatically relegated. In the 2. Bundesliga, Bielefeld has already secured promotion to the 1. Bundesliga next season. Stuttgart, currently in 2nd place and with an 11-goal lead over Heidenheim, is all but assured promotion. This leaves the promotion play-off spot in contention between Heidenheim and Hamburg. In the final matchday on Sunday, Heidenheim will play away against league champions Bielefeld. A win, assuming they do not overcome the goal differential against Stuttgart, will clinch the promotion play-off spot. Heidenheim are undefeated in their last 6 matches with Bielefeld, and have only lost 2 of the 13 total matches between the 2 clubs. Hamburg, who will host Sandhausen on Sunday, would need Heidenheim to lose against Bielefeld, in which case a draw against Sandhausen would clinch Hamburg the promotion play-off spot. Should Heidenheim draw against Bielefeld, Hamburg would have to win over Sandhausen. Hamburg have won 2 of their 3 total matches against Sandhausen. The relegation matches between the 1. and 2. Bundesliga are scheduled for July 2nd (when the 16th-place finisher in the 1. Bundesliga hosts the 3rd-place finisher in the 2. Bundesliga) and July 6th (when 3rd place in the 2. hosts 16th place in the 1.).

By Rich

Thomas Pledl is a 26-year-old midfielder for Fortuna Düsseldorf. Pledl was born on May 23, 1994 in Bischofsmais, Germany, and spent his youth career playing for SV Bischofsmais, SpVgg Grün-Weiss Deggendorf, and TSV 1860 München. His senior career began at SpVgg Greuther Fürth, where he made his Bundesliga debut in November 2012, as a substitute for Felix Klaus in a 0:2 defeat to Hannover 96. In January 2015, he moved to FC Ingolstadt 04, where he scored 7 goals in 69 appearances for the senior squad between 2015 and 2019. He was also loaned to SV Sandhausen from 2016 to 2017, where he scored 4 goals in 44 appearances. On April 10, 2019, Fortuna Düsseldorf confirmed that Pledl would join the club for the 2019/20 season, on a 2-year contract. Pledl also played for Germany’s U18, U19, and U20 squads between 2011 and 2014, scoring 6 goals in 33 appearances.