An interesting test during the international break: Second division side Schalke 04 takes on Bundesliga club Mönchengladbach.

In the middle of the first Schalke and Bochum surprise their opponents, Dresden releases a player

Holstein Kiel and SC Paderborn have not exactly impressed in the second division. However, they have managed to spring a few surprises in test matches. Something has changed at Dynamo Dresden.

The second division teams are using the international break for test matches. An example? On Wednesday, September 3, SV Darmstadt 98 drew 5-5 with third division team Waldhof Mannheim in a spectacular match.

What Holstein Kiel did against FC St. Pauli, who have had a strong start to the Bundesliga season, is likely to be more exciting for all FC Schalke 04 fans. The answer: Kiel drew 1-1, which is quite surprising on paper.

In addition, SC Paderborn, VfL Bochum’s next opponent, beat VfL Wolfsburg 2-1. 1. FC Magdeburg drew 1-1 with third division side Erzgebirge Aue. SpVgg Fürth won 2-1 against FC Augsburg.

On Thursday, September 4, Karlsruher SC also suffered a 2-4 defeat to TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. Hannover 96, on the other hand, defeated Bundesliga side Hamburger SV 3-1, and VfL Bochum was also successful, beating third-division leaders MSV Duisburg 1-0.

Substitute Philipp Hofmann crossed to the far post in the 69th minute, where Mats Pannewig scored unchallenged to make it 1-0. However, he injured himself in the process and had to come off.

So much for the test matches. There was also a personnel change: Second division newcomers Dynamo Dresden have parted ways with David Kubatta. The center back is moving to WSG Tirol, as Dynamo announced. Both clubs agreed not to disclose the transfer details. “We had numerous discussions with David to analyze his sporting prospects and chances of regular playing time and came to the conclusion that a change is the right step for him,” said sporting director Thomas Brendel.

The 21-year-old Kubatta moved to Dresden in the summer of 2024. He previously played for Viktoria Cologne. The center back made a total of 14 competitive appearances for Dynamo in the past third division season, scoring two goals. Dynamo recently signed center back Julian Pauli on loan from 1. FC Köln. This meant that Kubatta’s prospects of playing time were limited. During the international break in the 2025/2026 season, second division club FC Schalke 04 has an interesting friendly match on the schedule. The Royal Blues will face Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach. The game at the Fohlenplatz in the neighborhood of Borussia Park is sold out. Kickoff is VfL Bochum won the friendly against MSV Duisburg 1-0 (0-0). Coach Dieter Hecking saw room for improvement in some areas. VfL Bochum and MSV Duisburg took advantage of the international break to play a friendly behind closed doors. Bochum, led by coach Dieter Hecking, won 1-0 (0-0).

The second division team was clearly the better side against the 3rd division leaders, especially in the first half. After just two minutes, Mathis Clairicia was denied by Duisburg’s new goalkeeper Omer Hanin.

Around ten minutes later, Felix Passlack’s powerful shot was saved by the MSV keeper, who once again made a strong save. In the 23rd minute, Ibrahim Sissoko missed the chance to take the lead when he headed a corner over the goal from close range. “In the first half, we need to make more of our chances in the first 25 minutes,” Hecking explained after the game. “There were three or four good moves where we got in front of goal well. After that, a lot of the play was in midfield and we saw where our problem still lies: we need to get into zone three more often. When we had the space, especially on the wings, we needed to make better use of the options to get forward.”

At half-time, the visitors from Duisburg made ten substitutions, while Bochum made two. MSV subsequently got into the game better and had two chances to take the lead through Maximilian Dittgen in front of Bochum goalkeeper Mats Pannewig in the 69th minute. But both times, Bochum goalkeeper Niclas Thiede came out on top.

The second half was perhaps a more balanced game, but in the end we only conceded because of our own mistakes and not because the opponent created chances.

Dieter Hecking

Even after taking the lead, Duisburg had another huge chance, but new signing Andy Visser failed to connect properly with the ball around five minutes later and it went wide. All further information about the game can be found here.

“In the second half, it was perhaps a more balanced game, but in the end, we only conceded because of our own mistakes and not because the opponent created chances,” Hecking summed up. “There were three or four unnecessary turnovers in our own half.”

Despite the sporting success against Duisburg, Bochum fans are worried about goal scorer Mats Pannewig. The 20-year-old injured himself after jumping to head the ball into the net and had to be substituted immediately. According to the coach, the midfielder twisted his ankle, but no further information was available. From Bochum’s point of view, it is to be hoped that Pannewig will not join the list of injured players, which already includes Kacper Koscierski, Philipp Strompf, Koji Miyoshi, Moritz Kwarteng, and Ibrahima Sissoko.