Two points behind Bayern Munich. Third in the Bundesliga. Four straight wins. SC Freiburg head into the international break closer to the summit than at any point in their history — and the question hanging over the Black Forest is no longer whether the start is real, but whether the outsiders can stay there.
Sunday's 2-0 win over Union Berlin at Europa-Park Stadion lifted Freiburg to 19 points from nine games. Bayern and Borussia Dortmund, both on 21, sit just two points ahead, Bayern top on goal difference. As Reuters noted, it matches the best start in the club's Bundesliga history — and Freiburg have never finished higher than third, the position they took in 1994-95 under long-serving coach Volker Finke.
Built on goals, not grind
This is not a smash-and-grab run. Freiburg have scored 20 league goals — 2.22 per game, up sharply from 1.50 last season — and only Bayern (29) and RB Leipzig (27) have scored more. The Union win was their fourth straight victory in all competitions, a run that spans domestic and European football and shows no sign of depending on one hot striker or one lucky month.
Head coach Julian Schuster, now in his third season after succeeding Christian Streich in July 2024, has had the time coaches so rarely get — and, as Sports Mole's Bundesliga coverage reflects, his side are being discussed in title-race terms rather than plucky-underdog terms. Milestones are stacking up too: defender Matthias Ginter made his 200th Bundesliga appearance for the club on Sunday.
So what does it mean?
The honest caveats come first. Nine games is a sprint, not a season; Bayern's squad depth usually tells by February, and Freiburg's European commitments will stretch a thinner squad through the winter. The run-in starts kindly, though — away to promoted Elversberg after the international break is the kind of fixture contenders must simply win.
But the counter-argument is just as real. Freiburg have finished in the top seven in four of the last five seasons; this is a well-run club taking a logical next step, not a stranger at the top of the table. If their scoring rate holds anywhere near 2.22 a game, the Champions League places are a floor, not a ceiling.
Why this run has substance
What separates Freiburg's start from the usual early-season mirage is the profile underneath it. Twenty goals in nine games is not a finishing streak built on one striker's hot month — it is a scoring rate of 2.22 per game, up sharply from 1.50 last season, spread across a side that has now won four straight matches in all competitions. Add the club's recent history — top-seven finishes in four of the last five seasons — and this looks less like a surprise and more like a well-run club's next logical step arriving on schedule.
Julian Schuster's continuity is part of that story. A coach in his third season, who succeeded a club institution in Christian Streich and was given the time coaches rarely get, has built a side now discussed in title-race terms rather than plucky-underdog terms. The test, as ever, is depth: Bayern's squad usually tells by February, and European commitments will stretch a thinner squad through the winter. But the run-in starts kindly, away to promoted Elversberg after the break, and if the scoring rate holds anywhere near its current level, the Champions League places are a realistic floor for this group, not a fantasy ceiling.
Beyond the Final Whistle verdict: Freiburg will not win the Bundesliga — Bayern's depth almost always wins that argument — but third place, matching the club's best-ever finish, is genuinely on, and a Champions League spot would transform the club. The outsiders are not going away quietly. Can Freiburg still be in the top four when the season turns in January?
