1. FC Nürnberg vs. VfL Wolfsburg preview: Top-five contest in Saturday Topspiel

1. FC NÜRNBERG

1. FC Nürnberg (5-1-0, 2nd), coached by German football legend Miroslav Klose, have been off to a fine start to what is their eighth consecutive 2. Bundesliga campaign and their twelfth in the last thirteen years. The Bavarian club is seeking a return to the Bundesliga for the first time since the 2018/19 season, and a win in this match would give them a major boost in the contest for the promotion places – given that they could potentially be eight points clear of fourth place in the table.

Nürnberg have drawn 15 more fouls than Wolfsburg in their campaign so far (76 compared to 61), and have committed 15 less than Wolfsburg, who are fourth-worst in the league in this regard (65 compared to 80). Additionally, Nürnberg also have faced the least shots on target against (19), seven less than Wolfsburg (26). Goalkeeper Jan Reichert has conceded only six goals in this campaign so far, tied for second-best in the league – and two places better than Wolfsburg goalkeeper Jakub Zieliński, who has conceded eight.

The main player to watch in the squad is 22-year-old Mohamed Alì Zoma, who arrived from Serie C side UC AlbinoLeffe in August 2025. He managed 14 goals in 29 matches during the club’s 2025/26 campaign, and has followed it with six goals through six matches in 2026/27 – currently the league’s top goalscorer. Alì Zoma has expressed his commitment to Italy over Burkina Faso or Côte d’Ivoire at the international level and is returning from his senior international debut, playing 10 minutes in Nicolò Cambiaghi’s place at LW in an 0-2 defeat to Belgium.

Team News

Thanks to the international break, Nürnberg does not have any injured players at the moment. Armenian centre-back Styopa Mkrtchyan (muscle) and Senegalese centre-back Mikayil Faye (fitness) are the only two players that will likely be absent for this match, but progress is being made as they have both returned to training for the club. Greek right-back Giannis Masouras (illness) appears to have recovered from an illness which made him sit out the last two matches in September.

VFL WOLFSBURG

The opposition for the Bavarian side on Saturday evening is Niedersachsen club VfL Wolfsburg (3-2-1, 4th), who will look to return to the top tier of German football just one year after a historic relegation to SC Paderborn 07.

This is a high-stakes match for Tobias Strobl’s side, given that a win puts them just two points away from the second promotion place – a defeat, on the other hand, creates a gap of seven or eight points, dependant on what happens with league-leading Hertha BSC against twelfth-place SpVgg Greuther Fürth.

Whereas Nürnberg have the most goals of any team in the league at the moment (16) and the best goal-to-shot ratio (0,16), Wolfsburg have the most assists (13) and the most goal + assist contributions in the division (28 = 15 + 13). Wolfsburg have also managed 12 more shots than Nürnberg (112 compared to 100); have won 14 more one-on-one contests through tackles (64 compared to 50); and have delivered 20 more crosses from the wings, with Nürnberg second-worst in the league in this regard (110 compared to 90).

The player to watch in this match is recent acquisition from Hertha BSC, Fabian Reese – who leads the assist category in the division, with five, and the goal + assist contributions category, with eight. In his career, the 28-year-old German striker from Kiel, Schlewsig-Holstein has played twelve matches against Nürnberg, scoring twice and assisting on six occasions. Two of those assists came in the away meeting last season, assisting Martin Winkler (2′) and Dawid Kownacki (85′) in the 3-0 victory for Hertha.

VfL Wolfsburg lead the head-to-head record between the two sides, 6-2-3 in eleven meetings between 2010 and 2019; all of the last three meetings in the 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons ended in 2-0 scorelines to Die Wölfe. The last time that Nürnberg managed a win in their meetings was on 3. November 2012, a 1-0 result at Max-Morlock-Stadion on a seventy-fourth minute strike from Timo Gebhart.

Team News

VfL Wolfsburg are dealing with a few current injuries, with the returns of these players currently unknown.

German goalkeeper Timon Wellenreuther (knee), Brazilian-Italian centre-back Rogério (muscle), Belgian-Congolese central midfielder Aster Vranckx (unknown), German-Nigerian winger Trevor Benedict (unknown), and Scottish-English centre-forward Fraser Hornby (Achilles heel) are all dealing with consistent issues; in Hornby’s case, however, he has made appearances in two September matches, a 1-0 victory against Hannover 96 in which he played 45 minutes and a 0-0 draw with 1. FC Kaiserslautern in which he played 68 minutes.