Ever the masters of efficiency and always game to live up to a good ol’ fashioned stereotype, Germany has restarted its Bundesliga 2019/20 season ahead of every other major European league – giving football fans a real glimmer of hope after the Covid-19 sports shutdown. Ready for the next kick-off after the Berlin derby saw Hertha thrash Union 4-0 Friday night? Here’s how to get a Bundesliga live stream and watch every match online this weekend – including for FREE!
Bundesliga cheat sheet
The German Bundesliga restarted on Saturday, May 16 with matches being played behind closed doors – or without fans. Fox Sports has the rights to the Bundesliga in the US, meaning anyone without cable can watch by taking advantage of a FREE 1-week Hulu + Live TV offer.
Yes, it’s finally time to banish those memories of Belarusian Premier League relegation six-pointers and Nicaraguan league cup clashes – top-flight European soccer is now back on the menu again and the first weekend of Bundesliga fixtures saw no less than 27 goals banged in. Now, a new round of matches is upon us as Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund continue their nearly neck-in-neck pursuit of the Salatschüssel.
You’ll find a complete Bundesliga fixture list below, with the forthcoming batch of games serving as something of an appetizer for next week’s big clash – Bayern Munich vs Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday. That could well prove to be a Bundesliga title decider – but first Germany’s top two teams face tricky opponents in Eintracht Frankfurt and Wolfsburg, respectively.
Dortmund’s trip to Wolfsburg looks particularly precarious, as the Lower Saxony side need a strong finish to the season to realize their ambitions of European football next season.
Dortmund, meanwhile, have slightly loftier aspirations – of being the team to break Bayern Munich’s run of seven straight Bundesliga titles. And English football fans will be particularly interested in Dortmund’s endeavours, as rising Three Lions star Jadon Sancho is part of a ferocious Dortmund attack that also features Norwegian wunderkind Erling Braut Haaland, German international Mario Götze, and Eden Hazard’s younger brother, Thorgan.
American soccer fans also have plenty of reason to want to tune in to the Bundesliga this weekend, with promising youngsters like Josh Sargent (Werder Bremen) and Weston McKennie (Schalke) plying their trade in the Bundesliga this season alongside USMNT veterans John Brooks (Wolfsburg) and Fabian Johnson (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
With that in mind, here’s this weekend’s complete fixture list, followed by how to live stream the Bundesliga and watch every match online – free viewing options are provided where available.
Bundesliga fixtures: all this weekend’s games
There are nine Bundesliga fixtures scheduled across Friday, Saturday and Sunday this week – starting with the Hertha vs Union Berlin derby. Here’s the full list, along with when you you can watch them in Germany, the UK and US.
Friday, May 22
- Hertha Berlin vs Union Berlin – 8.30pm CEST / 7.30pm BST / 2.30pm ET
Saturday, May 23
- Wolfsburg v Dortmund – 3.30pm CEST / 2.30pm BST / 9.30am ET
- Mönchengladbach v Leverkusen – 3.30pm CEST / 2.30pm BST / 9.30am ET
- Freiburg v Bremen – 3.30pm CEST / 2.30pm BST / 9.30am ET
- Paderborn v Hoffenheim – 3.30pm CEST / 2.30pm BST / 9.30am ET
- Bayern v Frankfurt – 6.30pm CEST / 5.30pm BST / 12.30pm ET
Sunday, May 24
- Schalke v Augsburg – 1.30pm CEST / 12.30pm BST / 7.30am ET
- Mainz v Leipzig – 3.30pm CEST / 2.30pm BST / 9.30am ET
- Koln v Dusseldorf – 6.30pm CEST / 5.30pm BST / 12.30pm ET
Get a FREE Bundesliga live stream in Germany this weekend
Sky Sports has the broadcast rights to the Bundesliga in Germany and it’s going big on the restart, announcing that Saturday mid-afternoon fixtures are available to watch for free – both online and on TV – in Deutschland and neighbouring Austria.
This means its never been easier to watch the Bundesliga for free! Matches will be available to watch for free on German TV on the Sky Sports News HD channel, but even more conveniently online via the German Sky Sports website.
The Sky Sports News HD Bundesliga live stream is like a constant highlight reel, cutting between matches at the most opportune times so you never miss a moment of the action.
The eligible fixtures for Saturday, May 23 are:
- Wolfsburg v Dortmund – 3.30pm CEST / 2.30pm BST / 9.30am ET
- Mönchengladbach v Leverkusen – 3.30pm CEST / 2.30pm BST / 9.30am ET
- Freiburg v Bremen – 3.30pm CEST / 2.30pm BST / 9.30am ET
- Paderborn v Hoffenheim – 3.30pm CEST / 2.30pm BST / 9.30am ET
How to watch the Bundesliga from outside your country
If you’re abroad and can’t bear to miss out on Bundesliga football, don’t worry. While you may initially encounter a problem watching your usual domestic coverage in the form of geo-blocking, there’s an easy solution to this common annoyance.
It’s called a VPN and it’s a clever bit of software that relocates your device back to your country of origin – thereby allowing you to regain access to the services you normally use (and almost certainly pay for) back home.
After extensive testing, our personal favourite is ExpressVPN, which lets you change your IP address on pretty much whatever device you have, be it laptop, mobile, Roku, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, games console, etc, so that it thinks it is in a different location.
We consider ExpressVPN to be the best because it’s so easy and straightforward. It also has very fast connections and watertight security. You can try it with a 30-day money back guarantee, or go for a much better value annual plan where there’s a massive 49% off and an extra 3 months free.
Once you have it downloaded and installed, just go ahead and open the VPN app, hit ‘choose location’, and you’ll virtually transport yourself back home – it really is that easy. Then you’re ready to watch a Bundesliga live stream of your choosing wherever you are in the world.
VPNs aren’t foolproof, though, and occasionally you’ll find that content still gets blocked even if you’re relocated your device back home. Sometimes, all you need to do is enter your browser’s private or Incognito mode to fix the issue – but sometimes you may be plain stumped.
Based on our experience, this is the exception rather than the rule, but it’s worth being aware – and another reason we recommend ExpressVPN, as it offers 24/7 customer support to help you solve any server woes you may encounter.
How to watch the Bundesliga live in the UK
Anyone wanting to watch the Bundesliga in Great Britain or Ireland is excellently served by BT Sport this weekend. Not only does it have exclusive rights to Bundesliga fixtures in the UK – it’s also showing every single match on TV!
This means subscribers will also be able to easily live stream all of this weekend’s Bundesliga games either on the BT Sport website or by using the BT Sport app.
In terms of getting BT Sport, it’s available as part of the provider’s wide range of TV and broadband packages – as well as being offered as an add-on with Sky.
But more temptingly, there’s now also the option of a BT Sport Monthly Pass, priced at just £25 a month on a contract-free basis – or Irish viewers can take advantage of an even cheaper €17 a month offer via Now TV.
In the past, BT Sport has tended to air three fixtures a week: on Friday nights as well as Saturday and Sunday afternoons. But with precious little else in the way of live sport, BT has revealed it will be offering complete coverage of the Bundesliga for the rest of the season – and this weekend’s fixtures are once again listed below.
If you’re out of the UK or Ireland but have subscribed to a streaming service you want to access from abroad, remember you can always use a VPN to enjoy all the content you’ve already paid for back home.
How to watch a FREE Bundesliga live stream in the US
Soccer fans in the United States may already know that Fox Sports is the current US TV home of the Bundesliga, showing multiple matches each weekend across its arsenal of channels – usually Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2 or Fox Deportes (for Spanish language viewers).
Assuming you have cable, this means you’ll be able to watch the Bundesliga restart on Fox either at home, online or on the network’s Fox Sports Go app for tablets and smartphones.
Anyone who doesn’t have cable but wants easy access to Fox Sports may want to consider Hulu. The popular streaming service’s Hulu + Live TV package typically includes the two main Fox Sports channels – FS1 and FS2, but check your local availability here – and offers a FREE 1-week trial so you can see if it’s the right option for you.
If you subscribe to such a service, remember that it doesn’t have to stop streaming if you leave your country of origin – just use a VPN to enjoy all the content you’ve already paid wherever you are.
How to live stream the Bundesliga in Canada and watch German soccer online
In Canada, subscription TV channel Sportsnet has the rights to show German top-tier football action.
If you don’t have cable or get Sportsnet as part of your package, you can sign up to its Sportsnet Now streaming service to live stream all the Bundesliga matches Canada has to offer – and from a wide range of devices.
You’ll need the more premium SN Now+ offering, but it costs a reasonable CA$9.99 for a 7-day trial – or $27.99 a month if you want to keep it on a commitment-free basis.
If you decide you like it and sign up, but subsequently find yourself away from Canada unable to access it like you would at home, remember that you can always deploy a VPN to help you watch the services and content you already pay for back home.
How to watch the Bundesliga in Australia on TV or online
If you want to watch the Bundesliga restart in Australia, then you’ll need beIN Sports, a pay TV sports channel that’s the exclusive broadcaster of German top-tier soccer Down Under.
You don’t have to pay a premium price, though, as Australian streaming service Kayo Sports offers beIN Sports as part of a AU$24.99 a month package that also includes Fox Sports and ESPN channels – a great value solution for any sports fan that doesn’t want the commitment of cable. There’s even a FREE 2-week trial on offer right now so you can watch this weekend’s Bundesliga soccer for free!
Alternatively, beIN Sports Connect is available direct through the network as a standalone streaming option. It costs $19.99 a month with a free 2-week trial but doesn’t come with any additional channels.
Remember: anyone from Australia who finds themselves out of the country for the big match need only fire up a VPN, which helps facilitate access to the streaming services and content people would normally watch (and pay for) at home.