Can Bayern complete best first half of a Bundesliga season ever with win at Köln?

The 2025/26 Bundesliga season reaches its halfway stage as Bayern play away at Köln on Wednesday for Matchday 17. Vincent Kompany’s team are already assured of being top going into the back straight, but they still have a historic goal in the sights as they target the best first half of a season ever. The current record is held by Pep Guardiola’s team of 2013/14, who boasted 47 points and a +35 goal difference after 17 games. Given the current crop’s record of 44 points and huge +51 goal difference, victory in Cologne will see them surpass that. Here’s all the key facts and stats ahead of Wednesday’s outing.

Incredible attacking power

Sunday’s 8-1 thrashing of Wolfsburg took Bayern up to 63 goals already for the campaign, smashing the previous record for the first half of a Bundesliga season that the Bavarians had set at 56 in 2021/22. The Munich men had never before reached 63 goals before Matchday 20. Given the fact Bayern have scored at least twice in each of their last 24 league fixtures – another Bundesliga record – that stat may come as little surprise.

101st league meeting

Bayern and Köln have faced each other 100 times before in the Bundesliga, with 53 wins for the Munich men to 23 defeats, plus 24 draws. Recent meetings have been very much to Bavarian tastes, unbeaten in the last 21 competitive encounters (W19, D2). Twenty of those have been played in the Bundesliga, but the most recent was October’s DFB Cup tie, which Bayern won 4-1 in Cologne in the second round. The Reds have actually won their last 11 visits to Germany’s Cathedral City going back 15 years, since Köln came from 2-0 down to prevail 3-2 in February 2011.

Unbeatable Bayern

Bayern remain the only team across Europe’s top five leagues yet to taste domestic defeat this season. Across multiple campaigns, Kompany’s men are unbeaten in their last 25 Bundesliga fixtures (W21, D4) since the 3-2 loss at home to Bochum in March. The Bavarians have only enjoyed longer undefeated streaks in the Bundesliga from 1988 to 1989 (27 games) and 2012 to 2014 (53). The last away loss was 16 games ago, all the way back in December 2024 at Mainz (2-1).

Tah on cusp of record

While Bayern haven’t tasted away defeat for some time in the Bundesliga, Jonathan Tah may have completely forgotten the feeling. The summer signing is undefeated in his last 37 league appearances on the road, spanning five with Bayern and 32 with Bayer Leverkusen since a 3-0 loss at Bochum with the latter in May 2023. The centre-back could now equal the record set just last October by Robert Andrich of 38 Bundesliga away games in a row without defeat.

Two hard runners

Bayern (124 kilometres per game) and Köln (121) lead the Bundesliga this season for distance covered. Those good fitness levels have also borne fruit in other areas, such as late goals. The Billy Goats have scored almost half (11) of their 24 goals this term in the second half, with seven coming in added time alone – a league high. Table-toppers Bayern have struck 20 times after the 76th minute, including five beyond the 90th. The two teams also have the most goals by substitutes, with 11 for the Reds and eight for Köln.

Luis Díaz and Michael Olise were once again in red-hot form at the weekend: