Fortuna Düsseldorf 2025/26 season preview: Fortuna expect different outcome in Thioune’s fifth season | OneFootball

As we see time and again, 2. Bundesliga is one of the toughest leagues for prediction. However, that doesn’t mean there will be clubs who expect to deliver nothing bar a promotion season. All things considered, Fortuna Düsseldorf will fall into this category in the upcoming season.

Friedhelm Funkel, who was in charge of the club the last time they were in Bundesliga, echoed this sentiment with his prediction for the new season. Will we see a free entry for Bundesliga games next season?

How was their 2024/25?

It was all up for grabs in the last couple of months of the 2. Bundesliga season. With a six-game unbeaten run, Fortuna were in the mix in a very competitive race for promotion. However, they couldn’t maintain the form they started and ended the campaign for the most part.

A 5-2 defeat to Magdeburg after beating Eintracht Braunschweig 5-0 in the previous home game was a perfect example of their inconsistency. In the end, they could’ve ended the season only two points short of the playoff place had they avoided another defeat to Magdeburg in the final weekend.

The Coach

One of the big reasons behind the big expectations surrounding Fortuna would be the continuity they build with Daniel Thioune as the no-nonsense coach is vying for his fourth full season at the club. A top six finish in each of the past three campaigns bodes well for the 51-year-old coach’s dream to coach in Bundesliga for the very first time.

Including his spells at VfL Osnabruck and Hamburg, this will be the seventh season for Thioune in 2. Bundesliga. He competed in the promotion playoff in 2024 with Fortuna, which ended with a gut-wrenching defeat to Bochum.

Transfers

In retrospect, the sixth-placed finish last term was impressive considering the summer departures of Christos Tzolis, Ao Tanaka and Yannik Engelhardt. Similarly, key players left the club this time around with Ísak Jóhannesson and Dawid Kowancki seeing the exit door.

Germany U21 center-back Jamil Siebert could follow suit with newly-promoted Serie A club Pisa among the interested parties. Vincent Vermeij is another one who could still leave the club as he already reaches full agreement with Rot-Weiss Essen.

Like they did with the Dutch striker Vermeij a couple of years ago, Fortuna signed another player from Freiburg II this summer. The 23-year-old center-back Kenneth Schmidt only featured for Hannover’s second team in his loan spell last season, but Thioune counts on the player for the first team.

However, Christian Rasmussen is arguably their marquee signing of this summer. Fortuna’s new #10 joined from Ajax, where he played 12 Eredivisie matches, for only €1 million. The Danish winger scored three goals in his new club’s last two friendlies.

Fortuna also splashed all of €1.5 million for the signing of Anouar El Azzouzi from PEC Zwolle. The Moroccan and Sotiris Alexandropoulos, on loan from Sporting, will add more options for Thioune in central midfield. With the focus of building a youthful side, Fortuna decided against extending the expired contracts of long-serving players Andre Hoffmann and Marcel Sobottka.

Pre-season preparations

Thus, one of the first tasks of the preseason was assigning a new captain. They did sign Marcel Lotka from Dortmund to fuel competition, but Fortuna awarded the captain’s armband to goalkeeper Florian Kastenmeier, arguably the club’s best player last season.

In terms of results, Fortuna ended the preseason with four wins and two defeats. Curiously, they avoided facing a Bundesliga or 2. Bundesliga side in a friendly match. Their two defeats came against FC Blau-Weiß Linz (Austria) and İstanbul Başakşehir (Türkiye).

Predicted XI

Kastenmeier; Alexandropoulos, Siebert, Oberdorf; Zimmermann, Haag, Heyer, Iyoha; Appelkamp, Rasmussen; Vermeij

Unless Siebert or/and Vermeij leaves the club during the week, there is a big chance for a similar lineup against Arminia Bielefeld from the one used in the 4-0 win over Alemannia Aachen this Saturday.

Fixture list

Fortuna’s first fixtures before the first round of the cup tie will be against Bielefeld and Hannover. In the third season of the “Fortuna For All” project, the club extended the number of games where fans can attend for free to five.

The home matches against Karlsruhe (matchday 4), Magdeburg (13), Greuther Fürth (17), Paderborn (20) and Holstein Kiel (29) are the ones where no admission fees will be asked to attend at the Merkur Spiel-Arena.

Expectations & Prediction

Having this initiative while competing in Bundesliga will be a grand achievement for Fortuna bosses. As for Thioune, it’s hard to see the cooperation continuing to another season without achieving promotion. He signed a contract extension until 2028, but things might turn for the worst if they finish outside the top three once again.