I remember, when I was a student, people from northern Germany jokingly told me that, as a Scot, I should feel at home in Stuttgart because of the supposed Geiz (frugality) of residents of Swiss (Swabia)!
It’s an old cliché that never lives up to reality, and I think (hope) most sensible people would say the same about my countrymen. In fact, I am quite sure that Celtic and VfB Stuttgart fans will enjoy and appreciate each other’s generosity of football spirit when the two meet in one of the UEFA Europa League’s most eye-catching two-legged clashes in the coming days.
What should Celtic fans know beforehand?
– Meet Noahkai Banks: The outside pick to make the USMNT World Cup team
– Harry Kane scores 500th goal: Explaining the stats behind the sizzling form
– Amid more successes in the Bundesliga, Bayern’s drought in the Pokal weighs heavily
For me, VfB Stuttgart represents an underrated footballing and cultural force outside of Germany and some will have their eyes opened to its power and appeal.
It all starts with the badge suddenness (the red hoop or ring around the team’s white jersey). Last August the club celebrated 100 years of the suddennessand the accompanying organic choreography of the always passionate Cannstätter Kurve He left you with those hairs on the back of your neck that day against Borussia Mönchengladbach.
For some strange reason, Stuttgart is rarely mentioned as one of the places on the list of places to watch a football match, but it really should be. Just under 60,000 fans fill MHP Arena for every home game, in good times and bad, and it’s like a rite of passage. The team has a large area of influence in the southwest and for many fans in the area it would simply be incongruous to support anyone else.
Even though he is a three-time Bundesliga champion and four-time Pokalsieger (German Cup winners), including last May, Stuttgart and its fans have nevertheless felt the full range of emotional highs and lows in recent years. They suffered the dreaded Abstieg (demotion) in 2016 and 2019, although fortunately in both cases he recovered to secure the position. Klassenerhalt class (rising back to the top) at the first moment of asking.
Even so, in both 2022 and 2023, this colossal club started the 2. Bundesliga again and stayed ahead by a whisker. At first, salvation came only through a spectacular goal by Wataru Endo in the 92nd minute on the final day against Cologne. A year later, they had to face the always tense relegation playoff against Hamburger SV.
By then, the urbane Sebastian Hoeneß had taken the reins. It is hard to believe that his appointment took place less than three years ago, because in a very short time Uli’s nephew and Dieter’s son led the VfB. Verein für Bewegungsspiele (literally, “movement games club”), to one of the most fruitful periods in its history. Which has taken Stuttgart to runners-up in the Bundesliga (ahead of Bayern Munich no less) in 2024 and a Pokalsieg in 2025, although he apparently says goodbye to key players every summer, speaks to the competence of the coach and the sportchef Fabian Wohlgemuth in the search for suitable replacements.
Just consider the list of exits. In 2023 Endo, Konstantinos Mavropanos and Borna Sosa left. In 2024, it was captain Waldemar Anton and prolific striker Serhou Guirassy, both at Dortmund, as well as Hiroki Ito at Bayern. Then last summer it was Nick Woltemade and Enzo Millot.
But Stuttgart, in their current form, are pressing ahead with the task of booking a place in the UEFA Champions League next season and are in the top four after winning five of their last seven Bundesliga games in 2026 so far. They have the demanding but desirable Dreifachbelastung (the burden of competing in three competitions) and a Pokal semi-final they await at the end of April as they try to retain the title.
Hoeneß mainly likes his team to retain the ball and it is this rotation of the attacking players, rather like a revolving door, that keeps opponents off balance. You never know exactly what they are going to throw at you. Still, arguably their best performance of the year to date came in Leverkusen, when it came under intense pressure from Gegen, smothering the opponents in the fountain and ending the match before half-time.
The player who excites them the most is the fearsome Deniz Undav, who, although he prefers a Döner kebab to his more traditional local dishes of Maultaschen (meatballs) and spätzle (a derivative of pasta), however, personifies the club’s football better than anyone.
Really a forward with Spielmacher (playmaker), the 29-year-old is usually used underneath pure forward Ermedin Demirovic. However, the fact is that since 2023, only Harry Kane and Undav’s former teammate Guirassy have scored more goals.
Jamie Leweling is also a force to be reckoned with, and the difficulty is knowing how to stop him, whether he lines up on the right, left or cuts through the middle. Leweling has made great strides since his days at Union Berlin and Greuther Fürth. The heartbeats are set by the twin midfielders, captain Atakan Karazor and left-footed ball player Angelo Stiller, one of Hoeneß’s favorites, also from their time together at Bayern II and TSG Hoffenheim. If Stiller scores, it’s usually with a long-range piledriver.
The left side can be a problem for opponents with the competent full-back Maximilian Mittelstädt, who combines with Dribbelkönig (dribble king) Chris Führich, who returns to the song after going through a difficult time last season. It would be rude to say that the right side is a defensive weakness, but I always feel that there is Luft nach oben (room for improvement) in regards to the two occupants of the right back, Josha Vagnoman and Lorenz Assignon.
Jeff Chabot is the defensive boss. Left-footed, dominant and rightly considered a candidate for the national team for the World Cup, the former Cologne player is a good partner with the precocious and good with the ball Finn Jeltsch, 19 years old.
Between the posts, Alexander Nübel, on long-term loan from Bayern, rarely disappoints anyone. I can’t imagine Hoeneß in Glasgow trying to press as high as Stuttgart did in Leverkusen. But it is something to pay attention to, especially Karazor’s positioning.
Whatever happens next week in this intriguing Europa League tie, the Wertschätzung The (appreciation) factor for men who wear the Brustring and their fans will surely grow.