Preview: Freiburg vs Union Berlin - prediction, team news, lineups

Hoping to distance themselves from the threat of Bundesliga relegation on Sunday, Union Berlin will head to Europa-Park Stadion to take on Freiburg.

Die Breisgau-Brasilianer are looking for their first win in four games this weekend, while Die Eisernen are aiming to bounce back after a demoralising thrashing last time out.

Match preview

Julian Schuster guided Freiburg to Europa League qualification in 2024-25 by helping the side to a fifth-placed finish in the top flight, but after a mixed start to 2026, the club are all but out of the race this time around.

Prior to Die Breisgau-Brasilianer's 1-0 defeat against Genk in Thursday's continental action, they were held to a 3-3 draw by Bayer Leverkusen last Saturday, a result made particularly disappointing considering that Freiburg opened the scoring and took the lead twice.

Dropping two points in that clash saw Schuster's men miss out on the chance to climb up to seventh in the table, and has left them eighth with 34 points to their name, a tally that puts the European hopefuls 10 points behind the sixth-placed Werkself.

Despite their chances of making the top six being near-extinguished with nine games to play, Sunday's hosts will be keen to finish strongly in order to be in position should their rivals stumble at the last moment.

With that in mind, Freiburg fans heading to the match will take confidence from their team's excellent record at Europa-Park Stadion, where they are unbeaten across all competitions since their 3-1 opening-day defeat against Augsburg.

Bolstering that feeling will be the fact that Die Breisgau-Brasilianer have won five of their last six home outings, drawing just one in a stretch that goes back to the start of this calendar year, when they overcame Hamburger SV 2-1.

Meanwhile, Steffen Baumgart's Union ended 2025 with back-to-back victories - 3-1 against RB Leipzig and 1-0 against FC Koln - but a dire 2026 has left them looking over their shoulder at the bottom three.

Those triumphs were followed up by a frustrating seven-game winless run that included three losses, and while a 1-0 success over Leverkusen on February 21 gave supporters some hope, Die Eisernen come into this clash having suffered consecutive defeats.

Most recently, Baumgart's side took a one-goal lead against Werder Bremen only to be thrashed 4-1 by the Green and Whites, who made the most of Andras Schafer's dismissal to overturn the deficit climb out of the relegation playoff spot.

While Union themselves are not in immediate danger of demotion, they now sit 11th in the Bundesliga with 28 points, just four above 16th-placed St Pauli.

Sunday's visitors will be desperate to avoid being drawn into the fight for top-flight survival, but considering that they have lost three away clashes on the bounce prior to this weekend, and are yet to win on the road in 2026, Die Eisernen may be happy to escape with a point.

Freiburg Bundesliga form:

Freiburg form (all competitions):

Union Berlin Bundesliga form:

Team News

Freiburg have a generally fit squad for this clash, though centre-back Max Rosenfelder remains sidelined with the hamstring injury he picked up against Hoffenheim on Valentine's Day.

In his absence, Matthias Ginter and Bruno Ifechukwu Ogbus look set to start at the heart of Schuster's defence, with Philipp Treu and Christian Gunter operating at full-back.

Elsewhere, attacking midfielder Daniel-Kofi Kyereh returned to training late last month, but this game will likely come too soon for the Ghana star, so expect to see Yuito Suzuki line up behind striker Igor Matanovic on Sunday.

As for Union, they are missing a number of their own defenders, including Diogo Leite and Tom Rothe, who have been dealing with respective thigh and muscle injuries, as well as fellow centre-half Leopold Querfeld, who is suspended after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season against Werder.

Looking to fill the gaps this weekend, Baumgart could turn to a back three of Danilho Doekhi, Alex Kral and Stanley Nsoki, while Christopher Trimmel and Derrick Kohn start at wing-back in the absence of wide man Robert Skov, who has a calf injury to contend with.

In the centre of the park, Andras Schafer's straight red card against Werder means that he will sit out on Sunday, though Rani Khedira and Aljoscha Kemlein should be on hand to start in midfield.

Freiburg possible starting lineup:

Atubolu; Treu, Ginter, Lienhart, Gunter; Eggestein, Osterhage; Irie, Suzuki, Grifo; Matanovic

Union Berlin possible starting lineup:

Ronnow; Doekhi, Kral, Nsoki; Trimmel, Khedira, Kemlein, Kohn; Jeong, Ansah; Ilic

We say: Freiburg 2-1 Union Berlin

Freiburg may be in lacklustre form at the moment, but their excellent record at home suggests that they are likely to get the better of their struggling opponents this weekend.

That being said, Union will sense the danger lurking in the places below them, and could put up a commendable fight on Sunday as a result.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.