Marked for Andreas Dragovic
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Jul 2027
A fracture rules Matías Ballini out for 119 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mainz 05 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Nadiem Amiri in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mainz 05 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market12 Jul 2027
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Mainz 05 hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Jun 2027
Bayer Leverkusen pay $3.7M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Nadiem Amiri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Mainz 05 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kaishu Sano is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad21 Jun 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Mainz 05 are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Francisco Bonfiglio has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Market21 Jun 2027
The name of Andreas Dragovic keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Mainz 05 say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
Pressure builds in the Mainz 05 boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market7 Jun 2027
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Mainz 05 heard it as anything else.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Nadiem Amiri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Mainz 05 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kaishu Sano is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
Mainz 05 pull $1.8M back off the table
The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 May 2027
Nadiem Amiri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Mainz 05 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kaishu Sano is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad24 May 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mainz 05, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Apr 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mainz 05 can pretend not to have heard.
Market26 Apr 2027
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Benedict Hollerbach wants continental football; whether Mainz 05 can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad26 Apr 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mainz 05 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match27 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Mainz 05's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Mainz 05 has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Phillip Tietz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match27 Mar 2027
The goals have deserted Mainz 05
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Mainz 05 can tell you which week it ends in.
Match27 Mar 2027
The run at home goes on for Mainz 05
10 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Mainz 05 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolas Höfler is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad29 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Eric Martel
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match27 Feb 2027
8 matches without a win for Mainz 05
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Mainz 05 are no longer polite ones.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market1 Mar 2027
Lee Jae-Sung wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Mainz 05 hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Nadiem Amiri in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mainz 05 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Kaishu Sano falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match27 Feb 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Mainz 05 did not have in the autumn.
Market1 Mar 2027
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
The afternoon belonged to Armindo Sieb
7.98, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Mainz 05 had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match30 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Mainz 05's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Mainz 05 has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Phillip Tietz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match30 Jan 2027
Mainz 05 cannot find the net
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Kaishu Sano falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Johannes Eggestein, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match20 Jan 2027
The cup run ends for Mainz 05
0‑1 against VfB Stuttgart, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Paul Nebel runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market25 Jan 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mainz 05, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mainz 05 may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market25 Jan 2027
The bid was some way short and Mainz 05 did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Nadiem Amiri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Age has not caught Lee Jae-Sung yet — 8.19
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.19 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Silas runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Nadiem Amiri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Mainz 05 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kaishu Sano is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match14 Nov 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Lee Jae-Sung’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Mainz 05.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andreas Dragovic, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match24 Oct 2026
5 matches without a win for Mainz 05
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Mainz 05 are no longer polite ones.
Market26 Oct 2026
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Phillip Tietz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Kaishu Sano falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Stefan Posch dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Sep 2026
Nadiem Amiri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Nobody could get near Paul Nebel
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Silas. 1‑0 against Köln, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Nicolas Höfler falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
The afternoon belonged to Silas
7.78, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Mainz 05 had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
In brief
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Squad
Too much change too quickly at Mainz 05
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Player ratings
Nadiem Amiri spends the afternoon fouling
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Aug 2026
RB Leipzig come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Mainz 05 did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Nadiem Amiri in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mainz 05 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Mainz 05 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolas Höfler is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Stefan Posch dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match29 Aug 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. VfB Stuttgart came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Aug 2026
$4.8M from Mainz 05 for Andreas Dragovic. Money is money, but the dressing room has lost the man it looked to.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Thomas Lazaro at 20 — 7.84
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Thomas Lazaro did not need any: 7.84, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
Admira Wacker sell a favourite for $4.8M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Andreas Dragovic was one of the reasons people came, and $4.8M does not replace that by itself.
Market10 Aug 2026
SV Ried come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Admira Wacker did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dominik Hinteregger and Admira Wacker agree another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Dominik Hinteregger was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
Mainz 05 say no — this time
The offer from VfL Wolfsburg for Phillip Tietz was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Johannes Eggestein has just signed for Mainz 05, and for once the answer mattered.
Market10 Aug 2026
The most awkward business a club does is signing tomorrow's answer while today's is still in the building. Andreas Dragovic comes from Admira Wacker for exactly that purpose, and the handover will not be discussed publicly by anybody.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nadiem Amiri and Mainz 05 agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Nadiem Amiri in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mainz 05 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kaishu Sano, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Admira Wacker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Admira Wacker have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Aleksey Kalinichev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 6.67, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A mark of 7.36, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Martin Posch and Admira Wacker agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Admira Wacker has been clear about where Xaver Hinteregger stands, which is more than many ever get.