Marked for Silvan Widmer
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Nov 2027
The wait goes on for Mainz 05
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad22 Nov 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.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad22 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Mainz 05
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eric Martel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nadiem Amiri, and the manager let it.
Match20 Nov 2027
0‑1 to Bayern Munich, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad22 Nov 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.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Martin Fuchs after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Market22 Nov 2027
Silvan Widmer is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Mainz 05 has been clear about where Silvan Widmer stands, which is more than many ever get.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market15 Nov 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 The request is on a desk at Mainz 05, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mainz 05 may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad15 Nov 2027
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match13 Nov 2027
The wait goes on for Mainz 05
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at Mainz 05
Nadiem Amiri and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Market15 Nov 2027
Mainz 05 may not be able to give Cleiton what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Cleiton wants continental football; whether Mainz 05 can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Lee Jae-Sung
“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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Mainz 05 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Silas 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mainz 05 may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market1 Nov 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.
Squad1 Nov 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.
Market1 Nov 2027
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Mainz 05 can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Match30 Oct 2027
Werder Bremen left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Mainz 05 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Silas 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.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Martin Fuchs to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Sep 2027
The small margins put Mainz 05 out
Out, 0‑1 to St. Pauli, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Market27 Sep 2027
Silvan Widmer hands in a written request
“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.
The dugout27 Sep 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.
Match25 Sep 2027
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.
Squad27 Sep 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Jonas Adjetey is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Match25 Sep 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.
Match25 Sep 2027
0‑1 to Eintracht Frankfurt, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Eliás Montiel 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Aug 2027
12 seasons and 303 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mainz 05 may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Anthony Caci 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Mainz 05
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Silas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad2 Aug 2027
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Philipp Mwene has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market2 Aug 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mainz 05 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout2 Aug 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
Crisis
Match30 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Mainz 05's wait for a win
13 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sion waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Mainz 05 is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
$12.1M was the most the club would pay and RB Leipzig were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Market1 Feb 2027
Köln paid $11.4M and Mainz 05 took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Market1 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match30 Jan 2027
The goals have deserted Mainz 05
6 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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Mainz 05 close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $12.6M — a club that wants Ezechiel Banzuzi enough to be asked twice.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Mainz 05
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dominik Kohr was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match2 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Mainz 05's wait for a win
9 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.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
An offer of $5.9M for Mats Rots
Mainz 05 have gone to TSG Hoffenheim with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market4 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The dugout4 Jan 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
Robin Zentner 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.
Squad4 Jan 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.
Squad4 Jan 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Nadiem Amiri has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Mainz 05.