Germany’s 2025-26 Bundesliga season opens on Friday night with champions Bayern Munich hosting RB Leipzig at the Allianz Arena in Munich. Kick-off is scheduled for 20:30 local time, marking the league’s first match since Bayern reclaimed the title last spring. Bayern enter the campaign after paying €70 million to sign winger Luis Díaz from Liverpool, adding a high-profile partner for striker Harry Kane. Manager Vincent Kompany begins his second year in charge, while long-serving forwards Leroy Sané, Thomas Müller, Kingsley Coman and Mathys Tel have departed, leaving Serge Gnabry as the only attacker remaining from the club’s 2019-20 Champions League triumph. The season starts in what German outlets call the “post-Xabi Alonso” era. Alonso, who briefly broke Bayern’s domestic dominance with Bayer Leverkusen 16 months ago, now coaches Real Madrid. His successor at Leverkusen, Erik ten Hag, has overseen net spending of €116.5 million despite the €125 million sale of playmaker Florian Wirtz to Liverpool. Borussia Dortmund, Stuttgart, Leipzig and Eintracht Frankfurt also begin the season having lost key players, underscoring the challenge of ending Bayern’s decade-long supremacy.