Seven contracts are set to expire at VfL Bochum in the summer of 2026. The pros will be allowed to talk to potential new clubs as early as this winter.

The 2025/2026 season is only nine match days old. Nevertheless, it is already worth players and officials setting their sights on the summer of 2026.

This is because players whose contracts expire then will be free to negotiate with new clubs for a transfer without a transfer fee for the new season from January 1, 2026.

VfL Bochum prevented this scenario with Philipp Hofmann, whose expiring contract was extended in August, as recently announced. But what about the rest of the squad?

Four loan deals are coming to an end with Kjell Wätjen, Michael Obafemi, Farid Alfa-Ruprecht, and Fracis Onyeka. Their future, like that of the fifth loan player, Leandro Morgalla (RB Salzburg), for whom Bochum has a purchase option, will probably not be decided until late.

However, there are seven other contracts that expire in the summer of 2026, some of them belonging to well-known players.

VfL Bochum: Seven contracts expire in the summer of 2026

These include Matus Bero, who joined VfL on a free transfer from Vitesse Arnhem in the summer of 2023 and has risen to become a key player and captain. Another important member of the team is Erhan Masovic, who joined on a free transfer from Bruges in 2020. The full-back duo of Felix Passlack (Borussia Dortmund) and Maximilian Wittek (Vitesse Arnhem) have been mainstays since their arrival in Bochum in 2023. Wittek is also a regular this season, while Passlack has lost his place in the starting line-up. Noah Loosli has experienced ups and downs since his transfer from Grasshoppers to VfL in 2023. He spent the last second half of the season on loan at Greuther Fürth, and this season he has been alternating between the bench and the starting line-up. New signing Romario Rösch (SSV Ulm 1846), who signed a one-year contract, is finding it even more difficult to get playing time. The seventh expiring contract belongs to Daniel Hülsenbusch, who was officially promoted to the professional squad in the summer and has played eight minutes in the second division this season.