IGNACIO BUSE CHAMPIONSHIP SPEECH | HAMBURG 2026

HAMBURG 2026 | FINAL

 

ALEX DE MINAUR VS. TOMMY PAUL | HAMBURG 2026

 

BEN SHELTON VS. DANIEL ALTMAIER | HAMBURG 2026

 

HAMBURG 2026 | DAY 3

 

HAMBURG 2026 | DAY 2

HAMBURG 2026 | DAY 1

 

ATP HAMBURG OPEN 2026 ENTRY LIST, PRIZE MONEY, POINTS: ZVEREV AMONG 9 OF 20 STARS, RUNE & DRAPER OUT

 

Alexander Zverev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Ben Shelton and Lorenzo Musetti are among the big names who have signed up for the 2026 Hamburg Open.

The clay-court ATP 500 tournament, which is staged at Am Rothenbaum, will be held from 17 to 23 May in the week between the Italian Open and the French Open.

Seven of the top 15 and nine of the top 20 players in the current ATP Rankings are on the entry list for the 120th edition of the men’s event in Hamburg.

Flavio Cobolli is the defending champion, having beaten Andrey Rublev in the 2025 final.

How many players will feature in the main draw?

The Hamburg Open singles main draw will feature 32 players, including 22 direct entrants and four qualifiers.

Which players have received wildcards?

Two of the wildcard recipients have been confirmed, and they are Jan-Lennard Struff and Justin Engel.

Have any players withdrawn?

Jack Draper was on the initial Hamburg Open entry list, but he withdrew due to the right knee injury that has kept him out since the Barcelona Open. Sebastian Korda has taken Draper’s place in the main draw

.Holger Rune had signed up and was set to make his comeback from the Achilles injury he suffered in October, but he has pulled out and been replaced by Tomas Machac.

Which former champions will play?

Zverev (2023) and Musetti (2022) are the former Hamburg champions set to compete.

Hamburg Open ATP ranking points breakdown

Champion: 500 points

Finalist: 300 points

Semi-finalist: 200 points

Quarter-finalist: 100 points

Second round: 50 points

First round: 0 points

What prize money is on offer at the Hamburg Open?

The total prize money pot for the 2026 Hamburg Open is €2,219,670.

Have any players used a protected ranking to enter?

Players who have been unable to compete in any tournaments due to injury for a minimum of six months are eligible to use the ATP protected ranking system.

The protected ranking will be determined by the player’s average ranking position during the first three months of their injury. They can use the protected ranking to enter nine tournaments and for a period of nine months from the first event they play after returning.

However, no players have used a protected ranking to compete in Hamburg.

Hamburg Open 2026 ATP Entry List

1) Alexander Zverev

2) Felix Auger-Aliassime

3) Ben Shelton

4) Lorenzo Musetti

5) Flavio Cobolli

6) Jiri Lehecka

7) Karen Khachanov

8) Valentin Vacherot

Tommy Paul

Frances Tiafoe

Francisco Cerundolo

Luciano Darderi

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina

Jakub Mensik

Tomas Martin Etcheverry

Corentin Moutet

Joao Fonseca

Brandon Nakashima

Ugo Humbert

Denis Shapovalov

Sebastian Korda

Tomas Machac

- Ewan West

OFFICIAL | STEFAN KUNTZ DEPARTS HAMBURG

HAMBURG, GERMANY - NOVEMBER 30: Stefan Kuntz, sporting director of Hamburger SV looks on prior to the Bundesliga match between Hamburger SV and VfB Stuttgart at Volksparkstadion on November 30, 2025 in Hamburg, Germany. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)

Hamburg have reluctantly agreed to part ways with Director for Sport, Stefan Kuntz. The supervisory board were informed of the 63-year-olds desire to leave his post between Christmas and the New Year.

Kuntz cited personal reasons for his sudden departure, explaining in the Hamburg press release: “Sometimes there are more important things than football. That’s the case for me now. I don’t want to say anything more about it and ask that this be respected. I thank HSV for a fantastic year and a half. I wish the teams and the entire office staff all the best for the future.”

The German legend took up the position of the club’s Director of Sport in May 2024 following the departure of Jonas Boldt. Under Kuntz’s guidance, Merlin Polzin was appointed permanent manager and led Die Rothosen to promotion in 2025 after a turbulent seven-year spell in the second division.

Following promotion, Kuntz oversaw a complete overhaul of HSV’s playing squad, with key figures from the promotion campaign departing for pastures new. Davie Selke, Ludovit Reis, and Sebastian Schönlau all left the Volksparkstadion, while 11 new signings were brought in. Kuntz was credited with three late summer arrivals in the form of Luka Vušković, Fábio Vieira, and Albert Sambi Lokonga, all of whom have impressed during the first half of the Bundesliga season.

Chairman of Hamburg’s supervisory board, Michael Papenfuβ called for calm and stressed the club is in no immediate rush to appoint a successor: “We’ll proceed calmly and rationally – as we believe we are in a very strong position. Nevertheless, we in the supervisory board have already begun discussing this and will make a decision when we deem it the right one for HSV. We are under no time pressure; we are competitive and capable of taking action. To reiterate: Eric Huwer, Claus Costa, the entire coaching staff, and the second management team, as well as the entire workforce, enjoy our full confidence.”

- Harry Good

HAMBURG 2025 FINAL | HIGHLIGHTS

 

HAMBURG 2025 QUARTER-FINALS

 

HAMBURG 2025 | HIGHLIGHTS | DAY 2

 

HAMBURG 2025 | HIGHLIGHTS | DAY 3

 

KOMPANY HAS SAVED INCONSISTENT BAYERN FROM PERPETUAL UNREST

Eight months ago, Bayern Munich found themselves teetering on the edge of a crisis that few could have predicted.

The Bundesliga crown, typically their birthright, had slipped through their grasp. In Europe, the Bavarians fell short once again, eliminated by Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League semifinals. Behind closed doors, the club's usually steady foundations were anything but as internal tensions simmered at Säbener Strasse, casting long shadows over the summer ahead.

The club's higher-ups had realised that the move to hire Thomas Tuchel as a replacement for Julian Nagelsmann had failed. Meanwhile, Nagelsmann was polishing his reputation with the wider German public, becoming a fairly successful and popular manager of the national team. On top of that, Bayern's own coaching search turned into a public-relations nightmare, with media outlets from Germany and beyond reporting about the long list of coaching candidates who had all declined to join the club.

In the end, Bayern appointed Vincent Kompany, an unlikely solution given that the former Hamburg defender did not come close to staving off relegation from the Premier League with Burnley. Serious questions regarding his inexperience and overall track record as a manager were raised. However, only a few weeks after the 38-year-old's arrival, those inside the club were beginning to praise Kompany's management style. They repeatedly stressed the fact that for the first time in a long time, the club did not seem in a state of unrest.

Kompany and sporting director Max Eberl, who had been a proponent of the former Belgium international before he was hired, get along quite well. Meanwhile, many inside the dressing room seemingly realised that dissent played a part in their failures during the 2023-24 season.

Even players who weren't necessarily happy with their role in the beginning of the season -- such as Leon Goretzka, who started the campaign on the bench -- did not voice their displeasure publicly. What certainly has helped is the fact that Kompany goes out of his way to praise his charges and stress their importance when asked about them by members of the media. He doesn't make statements that leave room for interpretation.

Now that the calendar has turned to 2025, nothing has changed. Kompany is widely respected and steers the ship like he has been in the job for years. The tall, broad-shouldered Belgian exudes an almost Carlo Ancelotti-like poise in how he approaches his team and the media.

There were certainly moment when things could have turned. There was the one-sided loss to Barcelona in the Champions League in October, and three of the Bavarians' final six matches of 2024 resulted in dropped points to Borussia Dortmund, a DFB-Pokal exit at the hands of Bayer Leverkusen and a Bundesliga defeat to Mainz.

Despite those results, everyone inside the facility remained calm, knowing that the club needed to show much more patience than in recent times.

The decision to sack Nagelsmann in March 2023 may have been a valuable lesson because, in the aftermath, many inside the club acknowledged that Bayern moved on far too early from a promising young coach. What's more, the fact that Bayern were turned down by several managers before hiring Kompany can partly be attributed to their previous hire-and-fire mentality. They need to stick with the Belgian, especially when he and his assistants have shown signs of progress with the team.

Multiple sources who spoke to ESPN emphasised that "Vinny," as some call him, does a tremendous job of fostering a positive dressing room culture. Instead of criticising players in news conferences or post-game interviews, Kompany is addressing anything of relevance inside the dressing room, which may also have contributed to the decline in leaks to the media. In the recent past, practically any heated argument between the manager and players would find its way into the notebooks of well-connected journalists in Munich and elsewhere in Germany. Not this season.

Vincent Kompany has restored a sense of calm to Bayern Munich following the turbulence the club has experienced in recent years. Tom Weller/picture alliance via Getty Images

Things came to a head during Tuchel's tenure, when the manager's disagreement with Joshua Kimmich became public. One source specifically told ESPN that players appreciate Kompany's preference for keeping things in-house.

For example, he easily could have put the blame on Manuel Neuer when the veteran goalkeeper was shown a red card in the DFB-Pokal match against Leverkusen last month, a mistake that essentially cost Bayern one trophy this season. Instead, Kompany simply said that his goalkeeper "made a decision. It was close. That's football, and this is part of it."

Returning exciting football to Bayern

Those who have been following Bayern closely may find the current feel-good environment suspicious, because even in times when the club won one trophy after another, there were usually a few conflicts involving players, coaches and boardroom figures. Success helps mitigate tension, though.

Following the loss to Barcelona in the Champions League on Oct. 23, Bayern won seven games in a row without conceding a goal. There's visible progress that might lead to Bayern reaching peak form in March, April and May -- when trophies are usually won.

"I like the high press," Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the former chairman of the executive board of Bayern, said in October. "It reminds me of the times under Jupp Heynckes, Pep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti or Hansi Flick when we celebrated this type of fun football. That's why I believe it is important that we have found our way back to it. Our football has not only become more appealing, but you can also feel the excitement of the spectators in the stadium."

Kompany is becoming a respected coaching figure almost overnight. It had been known before he joined Bayern that the former Belgium international was a disciple of Guardiola's brand of football, having played under the Catalan at Manchester City between 2016 and 2019.

"Eberl asked me to talk to [Guardiola] as I am close friends with Pep," Rummenigge said. "I told Pep I needed an authentic and honest analysis. We then were talking on the phone for almost two hours. To make a long story short, he said that he was 100% convinced that Vincent Kompany would be the absolutely perfect coach for Bayern."

Kompany already showed that he could be a competent possession coach during his time as Anderlecht's manager and his first year at Burnley. However, coaching Bayern poses a different set of challenges, and yet, he didn't hesitate to let his team play an overly aggressive style with a high back line from the start.

Bayern only made three major signings during the summer: Michael Olise, Hiroki Ito and João Palhinha. Other than these three and Josip Stanisic, who returned from a loan spell at Bayer Leverkusen, this is the same team that crumbled during the second half of 2023-24.

Sources suggest that Kompany is quite deliberate in how he coaches and teaches his players individually. He approaches with very specific advice in relation to their position and tactical role in his system. Positioning in build-up or the direction and timing of runs into the final third are only a few of the things that are addressed by Kompany and his assistants, who seem to work very hard to analyse all the little details to refine Bayern's tactical system. During the November international break, Kompany once again decided to let his players who had not been selected by their respective national teams train individually instead of in a group setting.

Two who have benefited from Kompany's different approach in terms of communication and coaching are centre-backs Dayot Upamecano and Kim Min-Jae. Often the focal point of criticism last season, both have stepped up their game significantly. Their manager's pedigree as a former world-class centre-back certainly provides an advantage.

For Upamecano and Kim, missteps are treated as opportunities rather than failures, a marked departure from the approach of Kompany's predecessor. The transformation in both players over just a few months speaks volumes, with their newfound confidence on the pitch a testament to the manager's nuanced understanding of player development and man-management.

Managing the spring schedule and beyond

The first five months of the Kompany era established a trend in which Bayern have not fared well in games against the strongest opposition, both domestically and abroad. In order to turn that around in the second half of the season, Kompany has to make his team's attacking structure more flexible.

In the closing months of 2024, Bayern often attempted the same sequence of plays -- involving Kimmich as anchor in the middle, Alphonso Davies in the left half-space and Kingsley Coman as the winger on the left side -- over and over again. In general, Bayern still tend to move the ball toward the touchlines frequently, which makes them too predictable against highly competent defences.

As such, there is still much to be done before Bayern can be the force of a couple of years ago. Kompany can only hope that nothing disrupts his work in any meaningful way.

He might not appreciate it when Uli Hoeness, Bayern's former president, suggests the club will enjoy an easy campaign, saying, "We can lean back again after a long time. Other clubs have worries." That statement was countered by Eberl, who stressed that every opponent "can be dangerous to us." Eberl was proven right when Bayern lost their first league game of the season in mid-December against Mainz.

Besides the potential noise coming out of the board rooms, there is also the uncertain future of a few key players that could create tension. Bayern hope to agree fresh contracts with Davies, Kimmich and Jamal Musiala. While negotiations with Davies have been received positively by the club's higher-ups, talks with both Kimmich and Musiala are seemingly more difficult, yet the Bavarians remain optimistic that both will eventually sign new deals.

The expectation is that Musiala sees himself playing for Bayern for many years to come. Once a new contract is finalised, he will very likely become the highest earner alongside Harry Kane, cementing the notion that the 21-year-old is the player Bayern intend to build their future team around.

Like Davies', Kimmich's contract expires at the end of the season. Bayern were ready to cut ties last summer but kept Kimmich because he refused to agree a transfer elsewhere. The club have changed their stance and would be willing to extend Kimmich's terms, and a final decision ought to be made very soon. Kompany himself has emphasised that he hopes Kimmich will extend his stay at the club.

"Joshua has played every minute thus far, so the answer is easy. He has shown in every game that he is important to us," Kompany said when asked about the negotiations between Bayern and Kimmich.

The situation of Goretzka, though, could prove to be instructive. The 29-year-old, whose first start this season didn't come until Nov. 9, has told the club that he intends to remain beyond January despite interest from various clubs.

Even more difficult could become the topic of Leroy Sané's future. The winger never fulfilled the expectations that arose when he moved from Manchester City in 2020. Since his contract expires at the end of the season, the Germany international's departure appears to be the most likely outcome. It would free up a spot on the wings for Athletic Club's Nico Williams or Dortmund's Jamie Gittens, who are both on Bayern's list of potential transfer targets for next summer.

However, parting ways with a few prominent players and remaining unsure about the future of veteran players, most notably Kimmich and Thomas Müller, who may or may not retire come June, could be challenging to Kompany in a completely different way. He has so far reacted to questions about players and personnel decisions like an experienced diplomat, yet if some respected players become disgruntled about their situations, it will be much more difficult to keep the ship steady.

Despite his limited managerial experience, Kompany has been part of the football scene for decades. He knows all too well how fragile harmony and momentum are in this sport. So far, he's struck the right balance to achieve both.

- Constantin Eckner

MARTÍNEZ: CRISTIANO RONALDO YET TO DECIDE PORTUGAL FUTURE

 Portugal coach Roberto Martínez said it was "too soon" to say if Cristiano Ronaldo had played his last game for his country following the team's Euro 2024 exit at the hands of France in Hamburg on Friday.

Portugal lost 5-3 to France on penalties in their quarterfinal after a goalless stalemate in which Ronaldo missed a glaring chance in extra time but converted one of the kicks in the shootout.

"It's too soon and raw after the match to talk about that and there have been no individual decisions made," Martínez said at a news conference when asked if it had been Ronaldo's last game in a Portugal jersey.

Friday's loss to France at the Volksparkstadion was Ronaldo's 212th cap. His 130 goals for his country is by far the most in international football, with Lionel Messi recently moving into second on the list with 108.

However, the 39-year-old Ronaldo struggled to revive former glories at the tournament in Germany and departed Euro 2024 without scoring apart from in shootouts.

It was the first time in his career that Ronaldo had failed to score in a major international tournament, and his 10 shots without a goal are tied for the most without finding the net in a single Euros, matching Belgium's Kevin De Bruyne in 2016.

Ronaldo's 20-year career in the Euros included the title in 2016 -- when Portugal beat France in the final -- and it remains to be seen if the five-time world player of the year will continue playing for his country through to the 2026 World Cup, when he will be 41.

He said following Portugal's round-of-16 win over Slovenia that his record-breaking sixth European Championship would be his last.

"Without a doubt it's the last Euro [for me], of course it is," Ronaldo told Portugal TV's RTP.

"But I'm not emotional about that. I'm moved by everything that football entails, by the enthusiasm I have for the game, the enthusiasm I see in the fans, having my family here, people's passion ... it's not about leaving the world of football. What else is there for me to do or win?"

After the final whistle on Friday, centre-back Pepê collapsed sobbing into Ronaldo's arms.

"I won't say it publicly," Pepe told TV station Canal 11, when asked what Ronaldo said to him. "But we feel it a lot. Contrary to what many people think, we feel it a lot.

"We feel the frustration of not winning a game, of being eliminated in such a big competition as the European Championship, knowing that we had a lot of quality to go through. That's the pain we feel."

About his own future, the 41-year-old added: "I will have the opportunity to speak in the future. I don't want to speak about it [now] because tomorrow people might be speaking about my future instead of talking about this process."

Ronaldo has gone nine games without a goal for Portugal and missed a golden opportunity to score during extra time when Francisco Conceição broke behind the French defence and cut back a pass to Ronaldo just outside the 6-yard box.

However, Ronaldo launched the ball wildly over the crossbar -- far from a fairytale ending, if it is indeed the end, of a record-breaking international career.

Information from Reuters and The Associated Press was used in this report.

- ESPN News Services

WHY PORTUGAL'S RELIANCE ON CRISTIANO RONALDO COST THEM

After Portugal were knocked out of Euro 2024 by France, the major question mark is whether Portugal were over-reliant on Cristiano Ronaldo. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

 HAMBURG, Germany -- Cristiano Ronaldo stood amongst his teammates, hands on hips, lips pursed, eyes looking out into the Portuguese crowd behind the goal.

Rúben Dias and Nuno Mendes, the warriors who had blunted France star Kylian Mbappé, co-led the applause. Ronaldo joined in and then turned to embrace Pepe, his sidekick in so many battles, the older brother facing his curtain call at 41 years of age. Pepe sobbed, Ronaldo whispered in his ear.

At that moment, Ronaldo looked just like any other of his Portugal teammates, united in disappointment. He did not look like Cristiano Ronaldo, GOAT candidate. And maybe, if Portugal boss Roberto Martinez had picked up on this sooner, we'd be telling a different tale.

It seemed as if Martinez -- by playing Ronaldo in every minute of every game of this tournament (bar the final 25 minutes against Georgia) -- was more concerned with giving him opportunity after opportunity to write another glorious chapter in his stellar career than he was with actually giving Portugal the best possible chance of winning.

The numbers are cold and merciless. Ronaldo took 23 shots in this tournament, the second most by any player failing to score in the Euros since the group stage format was introduced in 1980. His expected goals of 3.51 without finding the net are the most ever at a major men's tournament since 1980.

Maybe Martinez looked at this, remembered that Ronaldo had scored in every major tournament he had played in (five World Cups and five Euros) and told himself: "Hey, he's clearly due." If that's what happened, he's like the guy who bets on the Washington Generals to beat the Harlem Globetrotters because "they're due."

Yes, Ronaldo was coming off a prolific season in the Saudi Pro League and yes, regression to a mean is a thing and it's entirely possible that, over time, he would have caught up with his xG. But that's the key: time. It's a knockout tournament, stumble and there is no tomorrow. And even the GOATs have dry spells.

And it's not just the numbers, it's what Martinez's eyes and brain were telling him (or should have been telling him).

Yes, he had built a framework around Ronaldo that maximized his strengths and masked his weaknesses as best he could. Rafael Leão, out on the left wing, stayed high when Portugal defended, so there would always be a speedster for the "out ball" if needed. Bruno Fernandes was given licence to shadow into the box, almost like a second striker. Bernardo Silva and João Cancelo would offer crosses from the right. Even the corner kicks, with Pepe and Ronaldo tying up the opposing centre-backs, seemed designed for him.

It worked in qualifying; heck, it worked against France for much of the game (though this might have had a lot to do with Didier Deschamps' conservatism) as Portugal generated the better chances. But at some point, surely it must have dawned on Martinez just how much of a strain Ronaldo's lack of mobility out of possession was putting on his midfield and how many opportunities he was failing to convert.

It might have dawned on Ronaldo, too. Early in the first period of extra time, Francisco Conceição tore past an opponent and cut it back for him at the near post. A young Ronaldo would have calmly met the ball and guided it into the top corner. Old Ronaldo sent it sailing over the bar.

Moments later, out of the blue, he went on a one-man pressing rampage, summoning energy out of the ether and sprinting at Dayot Upamecano, who brushed him aside and booted the ball away. In the old days, Ronaldo would have gotten to the ball before Upamecano, spun around him and buried it past Mike Maignan. And in the unlikely event they got there at the same time, it would have been Upamecano bouncing off him, not the other way around.

But to quote Slim Charles from "The Wire": "The thing about the old days is... they the old days."

- Gab Marcotti, Senior Writer, ESPN FC

EURO 2024: MAN SHOT BY HAMBURG POLICE AFTER AXE ATTACK

 A man has been shot by police in a Hamburg area packed with football supporters ahead of Poland's Euro 2024 game with the Netherlands following an attack on an officer with an axe, according to the town's police force.

The Reeperbahn district, which was populated by thousands of Dutch supporters at the time, was cleared by police shortly before 12:30 p.m. C.E.T. (6:30 a.m. E.T.) after an officer was attacked.

Riot police entered the area and shot the man responsible for the attack. It is not yet clear whether the attacker was a football supporter.

In a statement, Hamburg Police said, "At St Pauli, there is currently a major police operation.

"According to initial findings, a person threatened police officers with a pickaxe and an incendiary device. The police then used their firearms. The attacker was injured and is currently receiving medical treatment."

A heavy police presence has been visible in Hamburg ahead of the game, but both sets of supporters have mixed peacefully ahead of the incident.

- Mark Ogden, Senior Writer, ESPN FC

ALEXANDER ZVEREV PLAYS DJERE | HAMBURG FINAL

 

RANSFORD-YEBOAH KONIGSDORFFER FACES 3 GAME BAN FOR ASSAULT IN GERMANY 🇩🇪

 

New Blackstar stricker Ransford-Yeboah faces three game ban after outburst in Germany.

CARLOS ALCARAZ VS. LORENZO MUSETTI THRILLER IN GERMANY 🇩🇪 | HAMBURG OPEN FINAL 2022