There were no late comebacks for SC Freiburg this time around as a poor performance against Hannover 96 confirmed their relegation and brought to an end their six-year stay in the Bundesliga. Having narrowly avoided relegation last season thanks to a late improvement in form, Freiburg were keen to ensure a far more comfortable season this time around. Coach Christian Streich though had to once again deal with departures of key players as Matthias Ginter, Oliver Baumann and Gelson Fernandes all leaving the club in the summer. The club though improved their first team by converting Admir Mehmedi's loan into a permanent move from Dynamo Kyiv while Roman Burki, Mats Moller Daehli, Stefan Mitrovic and Marc Torrejon were also signed up. While Freiburg did put up a good display against Eintracht Trier in the DFB Cup first round, their league campaign got off to a poor start with Freiburg failing to win in their opening nine games to drop into the relegation zone. A comfortable victory over 1860 Munchen in the DFB Cup second round proved to be a turning point for Freiburg as they went on a good run that saw them lose just twice in their next nine games. While Freiburg were struggling for goals upfront, it was the form of Burki in the goal that was proving to be key to Freiburg's good run of form. The run saw Freiburg climb as high as 13th in the league table and though they managed to remain above the drop zone by picking up victories at regular intervals, it was going to take only a slight dip in form for the club to drop back into the relegation zone. A narrow defeat to Wolfsburg in the DFB Cup triggered another drop in form for Freiburg, who managed to collect just three points from five games in April and, though a shock defeat over Bayern Munchen saw them climb out of the relegation zone, it was not enough as the Hannover defeat coupled with positive results to Hamburger SV and Stuttgart saw Freiburg finish the season 17th in the league table. Relegation has put a question mark on the futures of a number of key players while Jonathan Schmid has already left the club, with the winger signing up with Hoffenheim and Vincenzo Grifo going the other way. Holding on to the rest of the team though will be key in ensuring that Freiburg mounts a successful promotion bid this season.
