“We’re delighted”: HSV start the season away to a top rival | OneFootball

Now there is certainty: HSV will open its 2026/27 season with an away match at Borussia Dortmund. This is according to the DFL schedule published on Thursday.

Against last season’s runners-up, HSV and head coach Merlin Polzin face an extremely demanding task. “Of course, we would have preferred to start the season with a home game. Nevertheless, we’re really looking forward to this clash. Dortmund are a top opponent with a special stadium,” the HSV coach told the club’s in-house media.

Memories of their most recent appearance at Signal Iduna Park are likely still fresh in Hamburg. Last March, the Rothosen surprisingly led 2-0 at halftime, only to lose 3-2 in the end. “It was one of those games that stayed with the coaching staff and the team for quite a while,” said Polzin. “We played an incredible first half in which everything we had planned came off. In the second half, we felt the opponent’s quality and the force of the stadium. Now we want to do better.”

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HSV face a tough opening schedule

After the trip to Westphalia, the first home game will be against 1. FSV Mainz 05 and former HSV striker Ransford Königsdörffer. The team from Rhineland-Palatinate finished last season fifth in the second-half table and will be anything but easy to beat.

The opening schedule as a whole is also a demanding one: with Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig (Matchday 3), TSG Hoffenheim (Matchday 5), and VfB Stuttgart (Matchday 6), Hamburg will face no fewer than four teams in their first six matches that finished last season in the Bundesliga’s top five and qualified for international competition. That makes the clashes with Mainz and 1. FC Cologne (Matchday 4) all the more important. Against both teams, HSV will be hoping to pick up crucial points in the battle to stay up.

Other highlights include the northern derby away at Werder Bremen (Matchday 10), followed a week later by a home game against Bayern Munich (Matchday 11). Meanwhile, HSV will end the first half of the season in mid-January (15/01–17/01/26) against FC Augsburg. That means the team from Augsburg will also be their final opponents of the season in May.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.