FCA open season with victory over Schalke

FC Augsburg kicked off their 2026/27 Bundesliga season with a well-deserved 3-0 home win against FC Schalke 04. Goals from Michael Gregoritsch, Anton Kade and Rodrigo Ribeiro ensured a successful start to the campaign against last year’s 2. Bundesliga champions.

Head coach Manuel Baum, who celebrated his 47th birthday on Sunday, made one change at the back for the first home game of the season, with Calvin Brackelmann lining up in defence. Youngwoo Seol was also named in the squad for the first time, while Fabian Rieder wore the captain’s armband. Before kick-off Mads Pedersen, who is leaving FCA to go to the capital, was given an official send-off.

In front of 30,660 fans at a sold-out WWK ARENA, Augsburg got off to a fast start in the match and had their first big chance to take the lead in the second minute. Anton Kade broke free in the box and played a ball across the face of goal. Robin Fellhauer was a hair’s breadth away from connecting with the cross and putting FCA in front. Schalke also threatened early on, though. In the sixth minute, Chrislain Matsima put in a last-ditch block to clear Moussa Sylla’s effort off the line, as Finn Dahmen denying Ron Schallenberg with a strong save shortly afterwards.

FC Augsburg’s first goal of the season came in the 18th minute of the match. Again, it was Kade who found space down the left-hand side and put a fantastic cross into the box with the outside of his boot. There, Michael Gregoritsch was in the right place at the right time and finished from close range to make it 1-0. After that, Kade continued to play an active role in Augsburg’s attacking play – all in front of new Germany head coach Jürgen Klopp. Just before the half-an-hour mark, the 22-year-old tried to get on the scoresheet himself, though Loris Karius was equal to his effort. Augsburg headed into the half-time break with a narrow but deserved 1-0 lead.

Red card for Schallenberg – Kade and Ribeiro add to lead

The home side also made a promising start to the second half. Just after the restart, Karius took the sting out of a long-range effort from Rieder (46’), before Schalke’s keeper was called into action once again to stop Kade’s header (47’). Following a corner, Marius Wolf tried his luck, but Karius made another save to keep his side in the game (48’). From the 62nd minute onwards, however, Baum’s side had a numerical advantage. Schallenberg fouled Gregoritsch from behind, which led referee Sascha Stegemann to give the Schalke midfielder his marching orders. FCA tried to make their advantage count straight away by searching for a second goal, though they lacked the precision to punish the Royal Blues immediately. Both Gregoritsch and Fellhauer spurned two chances in quick succession to give Augsburg the lead (69’/70’).

In the closing stages, Schalke looked to bolster their attack by bringing Edin Dzeko on as a substitute, though FCA continued to look like the more threatening team. After a lovely passage of play, Marius Wolf was left wanting once again (77’), before the decisive goal finally came. Rieder pounced on a miscued Schalke pass quickly and teed up Kade, who slotted the ball into the bottom left corner from around 17 metres out to extend Augsburg’s lead to 2-0 (79’). FCA almost added another goal directly after that, though substitute Mert Kömür was denied by Karius (82’). In added time, the hosts ended up scoring a third. Debutant Seol set up Rodrigo Ribeiro, who netted to make the final scoreline 3-0 to Augsburg.

At the end of the day, it was a well-deserved first win of the season for FC Augsburg, who will have confidence coursing through their veins for the upcoming schedule thanks to the home victory. Next week, FCA will once again be in action on a Sunday afternoon when they travel to take on Eintracht Frankfurt (17:30 CEST).

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