By Esper · Published · Updated
This map ranks all 18 Bundesliga teams of 2023–24 on the five style axes behind our FM26 tactic cards: pressing intensity, defensive line, tempo, width and build-up. The tables below show the teams at each end of every axis, the chart sets pressing against possession, and the full grid for all 18 teams is at the bottom.
What the five axes measure
- Pressing Intensity — Tackles won, interceptions and fouls, ranked twice and combined: once per game and once relative to the time spent without the ball, with the second ranking counted double.
- Defensive Line — Opponents caught offside per game. Teams that hold a higher line usually catch more.
- Tempo — Shots per game.
- Width — Crosses per game.
- Build-Up — Share of possession. The cards read more of the ball as a shorter build-up.
Every rank is within this league’s 18 teams for this season.
Pressing against possession
Leverkusen: the lowest line, the most possession
Bayer Leverkusen won with 90 points, 17 clear of Stuttgart on 73. Their defensive line was the lowest in the league (1.1 opposition offsides a game, 18th of 18), yet they had the most possession (61.8%) and were 2nd for tempo (18.0 shots a game). Their pressing was 8th overall: 18th on the plain per-game count, 4th once time without the ball is counted. Compare it with the Bundesliga 2024–25 report.
Pressing: the top four finished 2nd, 3rd, 13th and 16th
Mainz 05 ranked 1st for pressing (2nd per game, 4th adjusted) and finished 13th with 35 points. Bochum were 2nd (1st per game) and finished 16th with 33. Bayern and Stuttgart shared 3rd. Stuttgart were 17th per game but 1st once time without the ball is counted, and finished 2nd with 73 points. Bayern finished 3rd with 72 and led tempo (18.6 shots a game).
High lines: Wolfsburg first, Dortmund and Frankfurt next
Wolfsburg had the highest line (2.8 offsides a game) and finished 12th with 37 points. Dortmund (2.6) finished 5th and Frankfurt (2.5) 6th. Köln had the second-lowest line (1.2) and Mainz the third (1.3).
Width: Köln first, Dortmund near the bottom
Köln crossed the most (22.9 a game, 3.4 more than Heidenheim in second) and finished 17th with 27 points. Dortmund were 17th for width (15.4 crosses a game) and Darmstadt, last with 17 points, were 18th (15.1). Heidenheim had the lowest possession in the league (42.5%) and still finished 8th with 42 points.
Top and bottom three on each axis
Pressing Intensity
Tackles won, interceptions and fouls, ranked twice and combined: once per game and once relative to the time spent without the ball, with the second ranking counted double.
| Rank | Team | Per game · out of possession |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Mainz 05 | 2nd · 4th |
| 2nd | Bochum | 1st · 6th |
| =3rd | Bayern Munich | 15th · 2nd |
| =3rd | Stuttgart | 17th · 1st |
| Rank | Team | Per game · out of possession |
|---|---|---|
| =17th | SC Freiburg | 12th · 18th |
| =17th | Wolfsburg | 14th · 17th |
| 16th | Union Berlin | 6th · 16th |
Defensive Line
Opponents caught offside per game. Teams that hold a higher line usually catch more.
| Rank | Team | Opp. offsides / game |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Wolfsburg | 2.8 |
| 2nd | Borussia Dortmund | 2.6 |
| 3rd | Eintracht Frankfurt | 2.5 |
| Rank | Team | Opp. offsides / game |
|---|---|---|
| 18th | Bayer Leverkusen | 1.1 |
| 17th | Köln | 1.2 |
| 16th | Mainz 05 | 1.3 |
Tempo
Shots per game.
| Rank | Team | Shots / game |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Bayern Munich | 18.6 |
| 2nd | Bayer Leverkusen | 18.0 |
| 3rd | Stuttgart | 15.6 |
| Rank | Team | Shots / game |
|---|---|---|
| =17th | Heidenheim | 11.5 |
| =17th | SC Freiburg | 11.5 |
| 16th | Eintracht Frankfurt | 11.8 |
Width
Crosses per game.
| Rank | Team | Crosses / game |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Köln | 22.9 |
| 2nd | Heidenheim | 19.5 |
| 3rd | Union Berlin | 19.5 |
| Rank | Team | Crosses / game |
|---|---|---|
| 18th | Darmstadt 98 | 15.1 |
| 17th | Borussia Dortmund | 15.4 |
| 16th | Stuttgart | 15.8 |
Build-Up
Share of possession. The cards read more of the ball as a shorter build-up.
| Rank | Team | Possession |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Bayer Leverkusen | 61.8% |
| 2nd | Bayern Munich | 61.3% |
| 3rd | Stuttgart | 59.9% |
| Rank | Team | Possession |
|---|---|---|
| 18th | Heidenheim | 42.5% |
| 17th | Union Berlin | 42.9% |
| 16th | Augsburg | 43.9% |
All 18 teams
| Finish | Team | Pressing Intensity | Defensive Line | Tempo | Width | Build-Up | FM26 card |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st90 pts | Bayer Leverkusen | 8th | 18th | 2nd | 12th | 1st | Xabi AlonsoHand-researched card |
| 2nd73 pts | Stuttgart | =3rd | =5th | 3rd | 16th | 3rd | Sebastian HoeneßHand-researched card |
| 3rd72 pts | Bayern Munich | =3rd | =11th | 1st | 4th | 2nd | Thomas TuchelHand-researched card |
| 4th65 pts | RB Leipzig | =10th | =11th | 4th | 8th | 5th | Marco Rose |
| 5th63 pts | Borussia Dortmund | 7th | 2nd | 6th | 17th | 4th | Edin Terzić |
| 6th47 pts | Eintracht Frankfurt | =5th | 3rd | 16th | 14th | 6th | Dino Toppmöller |
| 7th46 pts | Hoffenheim | =10th | 10th | 8th | 9th | 7th | Pellegrino Matarazzo |
| 8th42 pts | Heidenheim | 13th | 9th | =17th | 2nd | 18th | Frank Schmidt |
| 9th42 pts | Werder Bremen | =14th | 4th | 13th | 15th | =9th | Ole Werner |
| 10th42 pts | SC Freiburg | =17th | 15th | =17th | =10th | =11th | Christian Streich |
| 11th39 pts | Augsburg † | =14th | 8th | 11th | 7th | 16th | Jess Thorup27 of 34 games |
| 12th37 pts | Wolfsburg † | =17th | 1st | 12th | =10th | 8th | Niko Kovač26 of 34 games |
| 13th35 pts | Mainz 05 † | 1st | 16th | 7th | 6th | 14th | — |
| 14th34 pts | Mönchengladbach | 12th | 14th | 9th | 13th | =9th | Gerardo SeoaneHand-researched card |
| 15th33 pts | Union Berlin † | 16th | 13th | 15th | 3rd | 17th | Nenad Bjelica20 of 34 games |
| 16th33 pts | Bochum † | 2nd | =5th | 5th | 5th | =11th | Thomas Letsch28 of 36 games |
| 17th27 pts | Köln † | =5th | 17th | 10th | 1st | 13th | Timo Schultz18 of 34 games |
| 18th17 pts | Darmstadt 98 | 9th | =5th | 14th | 18th | 15th | Torsten Lieberknecht |
† Changed manager during the season. The figures are the team’s whole season, so they mix more than one manager’s games; the card is filed under one of them, with the number of games that manager took. Teams without a card (—) are kept as a team record only, usually because no manager was in charge for most of the season.
Notes and sources
- Teams level on a stat share a place, shown as =3rd. Bayern and Stuttgart share 3rd for pressing, so that table shows four teams. Freiburg and Wolfsburg share 17th for pressing, and Heidenheim and Freiburg share 17th for tempo.
- Figures are rounded to one decimal place, while ranks use the unrounded figures. Freiburg and Mainz both show 1.3 opposition offsides a game but rank 15th and 16th.
- † marks a team that changed manager during the season: Augsburg, Wolfsburg, Mainz 05, Union Berlin, Bochum and Köln. Their figures cover the whole season, so they mix more than one manager's games. Mainz 05 have no FM26 card because no single manager had enough games.
- Bayer Leverkusen, Stuttgart, Bayern Munich and Mönchengladbach link to a hand-researched card instead. Its five axes show the same ranks as this report, but the rest of the card was researched and written separately and describes the manager’s approach in its own words, so it may not line up with every number here.
Source: FBref (Sports Reference) team season statistics for the Bundesliga 2023–24, 18 teams. Ranks calculated on 14 October 2026.
- How the five axes are calculated (methodology)
- Browse all FM26 tactic cards
- More league style reports
- Bayer Leverkusen 2023–24 FM26 card — Xabi Alonso (hand-researched)
- Stuttgart 2023–24 FM26 card — Sebastian Hoeneß (hand-researched)
- Bayern Munich 2023–24 FM26 card — Thomas Tuchel (hand-researched)
- Wolfsburg 2023–24 FM26 card — Niko Kovač
- Bochum 2023–24 FM26 card — Thomas Letsch
- Bundesliga 2024–25 Style Map: Bochum Pressed Second-Hardest and Finished Bottom
- Earlier season: 2022–23 report
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