- The Bochum vs Fortuna Dusseldorf game will kick off on Thursday at 2130EAT.
- The second leg will be played on Monday at 2130EAT.
- The winner of the two-legged tie gets the ticket to play in the Bundesliga next season.
Fortuna Dusseldorf and VfL Bochum are set to battle it out in a crunch Bundesliga relegation/promotion play-off on Thursday, May 23.
Bochum will be aiming to win the first leg encounter scheduled to be played at their home venue at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion in order to give themselves a good chance of surviving the axe from Germany’s top division league.
The club which finished 16th in the recently ended Bundesliga season, go into Thursday’s game on the back of a 4-1 humiliation in the hands of Werder Bremen.
Marco Friedl, Jens Stage, Anthony Jung and Romano Schmid were on the score sheet for Werder Bremen while Bochum’s goal was netted by Christopher Antwi-Adjei.
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Meanwhile, Fortuna Dusseldorf, who are on a 15-game unbeaten run, finished their 2023/2024 2. Bundesliga campaign on a high by edging out FC Magdeburg 3-2 in an end-to-end clash played last Sunday.
Highly-rated Greek winger Christos Tzolis bagged a hat-trick for the Daniel Thioune-coached side in the match played at the Merkur Spiel-Arena while Magdeburg’s goals came courtesy of Bryan Alberto Silva Teixeira and Connor Krempicki.
The victory helped them finish third in the second division with 63 points, six less than title winners FC St. Pauli.
Here are the essential details you need to comprehend ahead of the upcoming tie. Click this link to place your bet on the game and remember you can get up to 1000% SportPesa bonus on your multi bet of up to 50 games.
What time does Bochum v Fortuna Dusseldorf start?
The match will kick off at 9:30 PM Kenyan time on Thursday at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion.
Bochum v Fortuna Dusseldorf Team News
VfL Bochum recently released a statement announcing that their reliable goalkeeper Manuel Riemann will miss the play-offs.
“Manuel Riemann will not be in the squad for the last two games of the season. This was agreed between VfL Bochum and the goalkeeper today. The reason is irreconcilable differences in team matters,” read part of the statement from the club.
Moreover, Moritz-Broni Kwarteng (knee), Mohammed Tolba (knee), Michael Esser (knee) and Philipp Förster (hip) are all unavailable due to injuries.
On the other hand, Fortuna Dusseldorf will only miss the service of Jamil Siebert, who has a thigh issue.
Possible Starting Lineups
Bochum: Luthe, Bernardo, Ordets, Schlotterbeck, Passlack, Osterhage, Losilla, Broschinski, Wittek, Stöger, Hofmann
Fortuna Dusseldorf: Kastenmeier, Iyoha, Oberdorf, De Wijs, Zimmermann, Tanaka, Engelhardt, Klaus, Tzolis, Appelkamp, Vermeij
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Bochum v Fortuna Dusseldorf Head-to-head
Fortuna Dusseldorf and VfL Bochum have met on 19 occasions in all competitions since 2010 with the former picking up seven wins.
In addition, Fortuna Dusseldorf overcame Bochum 3-1 in the most recent clash between the two sides which was played in July, 2023.
Bochum: 6
Draws: 6
Fortuna Dusseldorf: 7
Bochum v Fortuna Dusseldorf Current Form
Bochum: LWWLL
Fortuna Dusseldorf: WDWDW
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Bochum v Fortuna Dusseldorf Prediction
Fortuna Dusseldorf are the favorites to secure the bragging rights in this match because they are unbeaten for several months and the last match between them and their Thursday opponents ended in their favor.
However, Bochum is also not an easy side to play against especially when they are fighting relegation.
Therefore football fans should anticipate an end-to-end clash which may end with both sides failing to keep a clean sheet.
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