The German Bundesliga doesn’t quite have the same firepower across the top flight as it used to, but between Luka Vuskovic’s incredible maiden season in a top flight league of any kind, the ludicrously elite Bayern Munich front three, and the underrated stars of Stuttgart and RB Leipzig (and now Hoffenheim, too), there is a lot of talent in the league worth getting excited about.
With more than half of the 2025/26 season now in the bag, it is time to rank the 25 very best players in the Bundesliga this season in order from worst to first. Obviously, Bayern Munich dominate the list, but even the likes of Hamburg and Mainz have representatives in what has been an unpredictable season beyond the top spot.
25. Hamburg LB Miro Muheim
Miro Muheim was Hamburg’s best player in the 2. Bundesliga before they came up in 2025/26, and, if anything, he has been even better and more important to the Hamburg cause in the first division.
The Swiss international is in the prime of his career and one of the best all-around fullbacks in the Bundesliga as Hamburg’s only real creative source, registering four assists with 1.9 key passes per game.
Muheim is also the best pure ball-winner for Hamburg with 2.1 tackles and 1.2 interceptions per game out wide. It wasn’t easy to crack the list, but Muheim belongs on it.
24. Hoffenheim ST Andrej Kramaric
One of the biggest Bundesliga legends of all-time, Andrej Kramaric may regret never bolting the Hoffenheim blue for the trophy-laden landscape of Bayern Munich, but most fans of German football are sure glad Kramaric stuck around all this time.
You will not find a more professional forward and a player who has become more willing to do the dirty work to win football games for this team despite being one of the finest finishers the Bundesliga has seen over the past 15 years – arguably only Harry Kane and Robert Lewandowski over in Bavaria have been better.
Even though he is now 34 years of age, Kramaric still has it, and he has nine goals and four assists to lead the Hoffenheim line. As he transitions to handing the keys to Fisnik Asllani, assuming Hoffenheim don’t lose him to Bayern or some other club this summer, Kramaric will still remain vital to his team.
23. Mainz CM Kaishu Sano
Mainz have been massive disappointments in the Bundesliga this season, but at least they’ve had a couple of positives this season, most notably Kaishu Sano, who has broken out to become one of the best midfielders in the top flight.
The Japanese international is only just entering his prime and starting to make a name of his own as a top box-to-box defensive midfielder and an elite ball-winner in the league.
Sano has averaged 1.5 tackles and 2.2 interceptions per game to just 0.6 dribbles completed allowed. If he were to add more attacking to his weaponry, even just a little more ball progression on the ball as a dribbler, he could begin to flirt with top 10 status. He is an exciting talent on an otherwise awful team.
22. Borussia Dortmund GK Gregor Kobel
Only one goalkeeper makes the top 25 Bundesliga players of the 2025/26 season, as it has been a down year for shot-stopping in German football – and the league itself has honestly started to fall behind the others like Serie A and La Liga in terms of goalkeeping quality.
But hands down, Gregor Kobel can go toe-to-toe with just about any goalkeeper in the world except for maybe the Holy Trinity of Thibaut Courtois, Gianluigi Donnarumma, and Alisson Becker.
Quality on the ball and magnificent at parrying shots, Kobel has kept the Borussia Dortmund defense afloat for years, and now that he has a legitimately great center back duo, Kobel is somehow averaging a clean sheet in just about every other game with the second-best save percentage in the Bundesliga. He is the cream of the crop of goalkeepers in this league.
21. Bayern Munich CB Jonathan Tah
Admittedly, I have been too harsh on Jonathan Tah at times, and while he does make puzzling errors and has never quite been able to reach that world-class level for either Bayer Leverkusen or, now, Bayern Munich, there is no question that he is one of the top center backs in the Bundesliga.
The fact that some people hype up Tah as one of the top three best in his position does him no favors, but his ability to read the game and play the ball out the back are indeed among the best in German football.
In his first season with the Bavarians since coming over for free from the team that dominated them in 2023/24, Tah is barely giving up an inch in one-on-one battles and has been one of the best center backs in the league at marking and disrupting passing lanes.
20. Eintracht Frankfurt RW Ritsu Doan
Eintracht Frankfurt have been one of the most disappointing teams in the Bundesliga this season, because while they have the overall talent and up-and-coming stars of a team that should be competing for the Champions League places, they will probably miss out on European football entirely.
But their most established player, left-footed right winger Ritsu Doan, has avoided being a disappointment despite the utter inconsistency around him. Truth be told, his own numbers could be better, but Doan is still having a very good season despite the uneven attacking displays around him.
Doan has scored four goals and five assists this season with 1.3 key passes per game and just about 2.5 combined dribbles completed per match as a solid creator and progressor, even if he has been forced to cede some of his goal threat because of all the extra work he has to do to help the team on that right flank.
19. RB Leipzig DM Nicolas Seiwald
Nicolas Seiwald is quietly having a tremendous season for RB Leipzig in 2025/26, and while most people around Europe are probably none the wiser, he is one of the best pure defensive midfielders in the game.
The Austrian international is as good as it gets at screening a back line, reading the game defensively, and breaking up play with 1.8 tackles and 2.1 interceptions per game compared to 0.6 dribbles completed allowed per match.
What’s keeping Seiwald from a higher ranking than 19th is the fact that while he is decent on the ball, he doesn’t really progress play or create chances and is pretty limited skill-wise as a dribbler.
18. Hoffenheim LW Bazoumana Toure
RB Leipzig’s Yan Diomande is all the rage in terms of young, up-and-coming star left wingers in the Bundesliga, but more clubs around European football should also be taking keen transfer interest in the other great Ivorian in Germany, Bazoumana Toure.
The 19-year-old has scored two goals with five assists, averaging a healthy 2.9 combined dribbles completed and fouls drawn per game as one of the best wide progressors in the German top flight.
17. Bayern Munich CM Joshua Kimmich
We’ve honestly seen better seasons from Joshua Kimmich before, as his overall defensive involvement has been more subdued this season, though he can be forgiven for having to cover so many patches in this leaky midfield for years.
Kimmich has five assists and two key passes per game for Bayern in the 2025/26 season, providing the majority of the deep lying playmaking quality that this Bayern side always so dearly craves.
Again, Kimmich no longer cracks the top 10 because of his struggles defensively with as many tackles per game as dribbled per game allowed, but his creativity still makes him one of the elite No. 6’s in German football no matter what.
16. Stuttgart LB Maximilian Mittlestadt
Forget the Bundesliga, Maximilian Mittlestadt is legitimately one of the best left backs in world football at this point, as he has been one of the elite players in the Bundesliga at the position for multiple seasons now,
Mittlestadt is averaging 2.2 tackles per game and 1.4 interceptions per contest as a lockdown defender on that left flank, and he is not bad at all on the ball as a passer with superior technical quality to the majority of the other left backs in the German top division.
15. Borussia Dortmund CB Nico Schlotterbeck
Nico Schlotterbeck is going to get a huge transfer move this summer, whether that is to a Premier League powerhouse like Liverpool or one of the titans of La Liga like Barcelona or Real Madrid – or even Bayern Munich.
Any team on the planet would do well to bring in Schlotterbeck, and in a team with a better midfield structure to help mitigate his lapses of concentration, Schlotterbeck should be even better.
But as it stands right now, the 26-year-old central defender is already one of the elite players in the Bundesliga with plenty of speed to burn, raw physical power, and the kind of quality on the ball that is more familiar with midfielders than center backs.
14. Mainz AM Nadiem Amiri
Nadiem Amiri is the only notable name on Mainz who has met or exceeded expectations, as the other members of the Mainz attack, especially striker Benedict Hollerbach, have been serious let downs.
Amiri was an underrated gem for Bayer Leverkusen, and now that the keys to the kingdom are all his in the city of Mainz, he is shining as the main focal point of the attack in that 10 role.
The skillful and quick playmaker has scored nine goals when nobody else on Mainz has more than two. He has also added 2.3 key passes per game. Amiri is at the top of his game and leading Mainz from both a goal-scoring and creative perspective, and while you could argue he is benefiting from seeing more of the ball in attacking positions due to the incompetence of his teammates, you could also argue that their struggles are holding him back from achieving even better numbers.
13. Stuttgart ST Deniz Undav
Perhaps Deniz Undav could benefit from more week-to-week consistency, but the 29-year-old German international is also one of the most exciting pure attacking talents in German football.
Right now, he is the best German No. 9 at a time when there is a serious dearth of quality at the position, and I’m sure Germany would rather cast their lot with a player of Undav’s imagination and skill than predecessor Niclas Fullkrug.
Undav has scored 11 goals this season for Stuttgart, and he deserves a lot more credit for being one of the best pure finishers in the Bundesliga. He has shown well as a creator this season, too, but in order to reach that next level as a top five player in the Bundesliga, Undav has to improve his final ball for teammates like Jamie Leweling and Chris Fuhrich.
12. Bayer Leverkusen LB Alex Grimaldo
You will not find a left back in world football quite like Alex Grimaldo, whose remarkable ability on set pieces makes him a superior goal threat to most of the actual midfielders in the Bundesliga.
Grimaldo is a technical wizard and a maestro of a passer, functioning as both a left back and auxiliary midfielder in one. He was one of the X-Factors to Leverkusen’s undefeated Bundesliga-winning 2023/24 season, and he has remained just as good with Leverkusen fortunate to hold onto him amidst strong interest from the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona.
This season, Grimaldo has five goals and five assists to his name, averaging a healthy 2.1 key passes per match and 2.3 combined tackles and interceptions per game. There are No. 10’s who aren’t touching his production right now.
11. Stuttgart CB Jeff Chabot
Most people around the world have probably never heard of Jeff Chabot, but the 27-year-old Stuttgart center back is quietly playing some of the best football at any position in the Bundesliga this season and is the clear leader of this Stuttgart back line.
Chabot is averaging 1.1 tackles and 1.5 interceptions per game with just 0.3 dribbles completed allowed, all the while showing real quality on the ball in the build-up play for Stuttgart.
His man-marking, reading of the game, and leadership have been crucial to Stuttgart this season, and with a better center back partner next to him, he could help Stuttgart compete for the Champions League again.
10. RB Leipzig CB Castello Lukeba
RB Leipzig star center back Castello Lukeba is quickly becoming one of the best players in his position in the Bundesliga, and he honestly is not far off from Schlotterbeck in terms of overall quality.
Defensively, he may be even better purely at marking strikers, and you can see why clubs like Real Madrid are being closely linked with the 23-year-old French central defender.
He is averaging 1.2 tackles and 1.5 interceptions per game, allowing a measly 0.1 dribbles per game to opponents. Lukeba’s athleticism, reading of the game, and consistency are rare for his age, and he is the latest in the pipeline of Leipzig center backs destined for stardom.
9. Borussia Dortmund CB Waldemar Anton
As much hype as Nico Schlotterbeck gets – and as much as it is warranted based on his raw skills and upside – when you actually watch Borussia Dortmund every week, Waldemar Anton is the true beating heart of this defense.
One of the most consistent coverage center backs in the Bundesliga, Anton is pretty much as good as it gets in terms of cleaning house, chasing down strikers in transition, and making last ditch tackles.
Anton is also completing more passes per game with a higher completion percentage than Schotty and is one of the best on-the-ball passers in world football. He and Schlotterbeck together have held Dortmund together in second and kept them above water defensively despite a sieve of a midfield.
8. RB Leipzig LB David Raum
The common theme with RB Leipzig is that they have so many great players most people around European football aren’t talking enough about, and David Raum, like so many in the Hoffenheim to Leipzig pipeline, is absolutely one of them.
An elite attacking fullback, Raum is only getting better now that he is in his prime at 27. He has one of the most effective crosses in world football, either lofted or driven, and has become a real box-to-box ball-winner on that flank.
Raum is averaging more than three key passes per game and more than three combined tackles and interceptions per match, making a difference with seven goal contributions. He is such an important part of the Leipzig attack and would have double the assists with a more proven No. 9 up top.
7. Hoffenheim CM Wouter Burger
As big clubs around European football like Bayern Munich, Barcelona, and Real Madrid consider Angelo Stiller as their next No. 6 signing, other shrewder clubs with less expectations may want to look into Wouter Burger, who is quietly having an even stronger 2025/26 campaign than the Schwaben’s star man.
Burger has four goals and five assists to his name, averaging 1.7 key passes per match as one of the most productive deep-lying playmakers while still being a strong covering defender in the midfield for the back line.
This is his big breakout season, but Burger is not yet in his prime. If he keep this up, Burger could soon become one of the more coveted No. 6’s in European football.
6. RB Leipzig AM Christoph Baumgartner
No player on RB Leipzig has scored more goals this season than the attacking midfielder Christoph Baumgartner with eight, and the former unheralded gem at Hoffenheim has actually been, if anything, an upgrade on current Barcelona star Dani Olmo for the east German side.
He is more skilled and decisive than even Olmo, leading Leipzig in both goals and assists. The fact that he is leading Leipzig in assists is no surprise, as he was already one of the top creative No. 10’s in the Bundesliga.
But his ability to score from range and get into positions in the box to take shots on goal has been a huge boon to a Leipzig side that is transitioning at striker, with Romulo still growing into the role as more of an all-arounder and the losses of Lois Openda and Benjamin Sesko looming large.
Baumgartner has even been an asset defensively with nearly two tackles per game. He is an absolute star already, and more fans around Europe need to be watching Baumgartner’s highlights each week.
5. RB Leipzig LW Yan Diomande
All the biggest clubs in European football will be after Yan Diomande when the dust settles, as his hat trick against Eintracht Frankfurt proved to be a real breakout moment in the 19-year-old Ivorian international’s 2025/26 season.
Diomande has seven goals and four assists with 3.4 dribbles completed per game, and he is the most exciting one-on-one winger in the Bundesliga, arguably even more explosive than Bayern Munich’s Luis Diaz in these situations.
It won’t be long until Diomande surpasses Diaz, and you can see why Manchester United and Bayern Munich are so keen on Diomande as a long-term solution on that left flank.
4. Bayern Munich LW Luis Diaz
Luis Diaz is the easiest of the three superstar forwards at Bayern Munich to overlook, but the Colombian international has been an absolute monster in the Bundesliga in those transition opportunities, leading counterattacks and causing the sort of chaos that Liverpool are badly missing in a letdown 2025/26 campaign.
Liverpool’s loss has clearly been Bayern’s gain, and if it weren’t for the fact that Diaz shares the spotlight with probably the two best performing players in world football right now, he’d be getting a lot more shine.
The 29-year-old has 22 goal contributions in 20 games for Die Roten, averaging 2.1 key passes and 2.2 dribbles completed per game. With Khvicha Khvaratskhelia and Vinicius Junior all having letdown seasons, there is a real case to be made that Diaz is the best pure dribbling left winger in the world right now.
3. Hamburg CB Luka Vuskovic
It may seem presumptuous to rank an 18-year-old center back for Hamburg in his first senior season as the third-best player in the Bundesliga this campaign alongside players like Harry Kane, Michael Olise, and Luis Diaz.
But that is no less than where Luka Vuskovic belongs. He is the biggest phenom in world football not named Lamine Yamal, and Tottenham Hotspur will honestly be lucky to hold onto him.
The man sees the game like a 30-year-old veteran and is almost unbeatable in one-on-ones, even though he plays with a pretty mediocre supporting cast, to put it kindly, especially in midfield.
Vuskovic is also so quality on the ball. He has scored wondergoals this season with four in total, and his passing is extremely refined and even threatening, which is uncanny for an 18-year-old.
He is headed for big things in world football, and it is not far-fetched to consider Vuskovic just as much as Bundesliga Player of the Season candidate as Harry Kane and Michael Olise for how he is elevating Hamburg in all phases.
2. Bayern Munich ST Harry Kane
Even though he left the Premier League, Harry Kane has stepped into the spotlight like never before at Bayern Munich, which is kind of another indictment of how Tottenham Hotspur can drag anyone’s greatness down – even the best striker in the world.
Kane’s all-around game gets more shine at Bayern. He is the perfect centerpiece No. 9 for a team with Luis Diaz and Michael Olise on the wings both feeding him chances and getting into scoring positions for them.
One of the Ballon d’Or frontrunners, Kane is as devilishly good in front of goal as ever with 24 goals in 21 games, but it is his work in the deeper portions of the field as a creator, progressor, and, yes, even defender that have truly helped the England international distinguish himself in his own caliber.
1. Bayern Munich RW Michael Olise
Most people would have Harry Kane sitting atop the list of the best Bundesliga players this season, but for those who are watching the league every week, it is Michael Olise who stands head and shoulders above the crowd as both the most entertaining and the most effective player in the German top flight.
Olise is honestly having a historically great season, and it is a shame that the mainstream media footballing enterprise is not paying a lick of attention to the young Frenchman.
He is at 10 goals and 16 assists, producing plenty of end product while doing a lot of the heavy lifting for Bayern Munich as a progressor and dribbler, carrying possession, taking defenders on, and creating the chances from wide inward.
Olise’s curling shots, perfect deliveries to Harry Kane, and eye for the spectacular on the ball with his skills are all reasons why the 24-year-old forward has reached untouchable status in Bavaria.
Joe Soriano is the editor of The Trivela Effect and a FanSided Hall of Famer who has covered world football since 2010. He’s led top digital communities like The Real Champs (Real Madrid) and has run sites covering Tottenham, Liverpool, Juventus, and Schalke. He also helped manage NFL Spin Zone and Daily DDT, covering the NFL and pro wrestling.