Last season was St. Paulis first in the German Bundesliga in over a decade, and they performed pretty well.
They lost the famous Fabian Hürzeler before the season started and had one of the cheapest squads in the league.
Nevertheless, under the leadership of new coach Alexander Blessin, St. Pauli successfully finished 15th.
Their journey to success was also pretty remarkable.
St. Pauli got off to a bad start due to Blessins intention to make the team play in his preferred pressing style, losing the first three games.
However, Blessin gradually changed his approach.
He encouraged St. Pauli to play more patiently in the out-of-possession phase, preferring to wait for the opponent with a deep and compact defence rather than trying to jump and press as before.
The results were decent: St. Pauli finished as the second-best team in terms of goals conceded, behind only Bayern Munich.
They indeed had one of the best defences in the league last season.
This defensive strength is enough to help them stay in the league, even though they are one of the worst offensively.
The question remains: can they continue to survive with the same style of play in the competitive Bundesliga?
St. Pauli Budget-Friendly Transfer Strategy
St. Pauli will enter the season having lost three key attacking players.
Firstly, top scorer Morgan Guilavogui returned to France after RC Lens activated his release clause, leaving St. Pauli without their leading goalscorer from last season.
Secondly, they lost Elias Saad, a key attacker who contributed five goals last season and was also very influential during their promotion run.
Lastly, they lost Johannes Eggestein, who also played a key role in their promotion and contributed three goals and five assists last season despite playing fewer minutes in the second half.
Losing three players who made decent goal contributions (in the context of St. Pauli) is indeed hurtful.
St. Pauli have been trying to address this by signing new attackers.
However, as they dont have a huge budget this summer, the attackers they have signed are not of star calibre.
Yes, they signed Mathias Pereira Lage, who played in the UEFA Champions League with Brest last season, but only scored four goals in all competitions in 2024/2025.
Eight assists sounds promising, but the Bundesliga is tougher and more competitive than that.
St. Pauli also signed Andréas Hountondji on loan from the Premier Leagues Burnley, but he only scored four goals and provided one assist in 18 appearances in the Belgian First Division A last season.
Meanwhile, Ricky-Jade Jones, who scored 11 goals for Peterborough United in EFL League One last season, lacks experience at this level.
Theres a chance that St. Pauli will sign another attacker, but if not, they need to ensure that these three integrate well into their system to perform well in the Bundesliga.
St. Pauli also lost midfielder Carlo Boukhalfa this summer, and interestingly, they filled the void by signing Japanese international Joel Chima Fujita, who, if all the add-ons are achieved, will break the clubs transfer record.
Meanwhile, the loan of New York City midfielder James Sands has been extended until the end of next season to provide additional midfield depth.
The club also lost left wing-back Phillip Treu to SC Freiburg and bought Arminia Bielefelds Louis Oppie to replace him.
Jannik Robatsch and Arkadiusz Pyrka were also signed to strengthen the defence.
St. Pauli lack the financial resources to spend money in the transfer market, so they usually try to outsmart their competitors by signing cheap or potentially valuable players from non-top leagues.
So, with this limited transfer budget and one of the cheapest squads in the league, will St. Pauli be able to maintain their position in the Bundesliga next season?
If so, which of last seasons strategies does Blessin need to keep, and which aspects do they need to work on in order to compete?
St. Pauli Defensive Energy
St. Pauli successfully avoided relegation next season because they changed their approach when not in possession, moving from an aggressive pressing game to a low block, compact defence.
However, its not just about playing in a low block and letting the opponent attack while minimising spaces.
St. Pauli play deep with calculation.
They are adept at defensive duels, and last season, they were second best only to Bayern Munich in that respect.
Their defenders are really good at reading the game and momentum when it comes to duels against the opponent‘s attacker.
St. Pauli also know how to build momentum in order
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