Eintracht Braunschweig vs VfL Bochum

Eintracht Braunschweig host VfL Bochum at the Eintracht-Stadion on Friday, August 14, in the second matchday of the 2026/27 2. Bundesliga season — a contest between a side fresh from a six-goal demolition job and another whose manager demands they become “hard to beat”.

Team News and Injury Latest

Braunschweig must navigate the early weeks of the campaign without midfielders Lino Tempelmann and Robin Heußer, both of whom are injured. That means Florian Flick — whose loan from last season was turned permanent in the summer — is likely to anchor the centre of the park again alongside Samuele Di Benedetto. Head coach Daniel Kornetka is expected to keep faith with the XI that tore Magdeburg apart, including Borussia Mönchengladbach loanee Jan Urbich after his debut goal.

For Bochum, Uwe Rösler is still without Philipp Strompf and Mikkel Rakneberg. Alessandro Crimaldi, the 18-year-old who started in the opening-day loss to Hertha BSC, will hope to retain his place. Rösler could hand a first start to one of the five summer debutants he fielded against Hertha — Enis Cokaj, Jean-Manuel Mbom, Michael Steinwender, Yigit Karademir and Berkan Taz — as he fine-tunes a squad assembled to push for the promotion places.

Braunschweig Form Guide

Braunschweig could not have announced themselves louder. They opened their league campaign with a 6-1 away win at local rivals 1. FC Magdeburg, a result that entered the club record books. Three of their new signings were on the scoresheet — Urbich got his Bundesliga 2 career off the mark, Di Benedetto posed a constant threat from set-pieces, and the forward line of Yann Sturm and Junior Zé added spark. Mehmet Aydin’s late winner the last time these two met, a 1-0 smash-and-grab on the opening day of 2025/26 when Kevin Ehlers was sent off, will still be fresh in Bochum’s memory.

Bochum Form Guide

Bochum’s opening Friday-night fixture ended in frustration at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion against Hertha BSC, a side Rösler’s men went unbeaten against last season. The defeat puts early pressure on a group that the club expects to compete in the “upper reaches” of the table. Rösler has spent his first full pre-season drilling a side he describes with the motto “hard to beat”, and the trip to Braunschweig is the first away test of that philosophy. The sizeable summer clear-out — Matus Bero, Noah Loosli, Erhan Mašović and Romario Rösch all departed on frees, while Cajetan Lenz joined Hoffenheim for a reported €10 million — means this is a remodelled squad still searching for its rhythm.

Key Battle: Samuele Di Benedetto vs Enis Cokaj

Di Benedetto’s set-piece delivery and late-arriving runs caused Magdeburg constant problems on matchday one. If Bochum’s new midfield recruit Cokaj is tasked with screening the back four, he will have to track the Italian’s movements off the ball carefully. Braunschweig carry a genuine goal threat from midfield — something few sides outside the promotion conversation can claim — and Bochum’s ability to smother those runs could decide where the points go.

Braunschweig’s opening-week momentum will be put straight back to the test when they entertain Union Berlin in the DFB-Pokal first round the following week. Bochum, meanwhile, return home to face newly promoted VfL Osnabrück as they chase the first win of a season many expect them to spend in the top-third mix.