Königsdörffer left Hamburg on a free in June, and he scored their fifth against them
Mainz won 5-0 at the Volksparkstadion, and the last goal went to a forward whose Hamburg contract had expired ten weeks earlier.
Sep 7, 2026
Ransford-Yeboah Königsdörffer’s Hamburg contract ran out on 30 June and he joined Mainz on a free. On Sunday afternoon he came back to the Volksparkstadion, scored in the first minute of stoppage time to make it 0-5, and celebrated in front of the Hamburg supporters with both hands cupped behind his ears.
Becker had a hand in the first three
Sheraldo Becker scored the opener in the 19th minute from a Kaishu Sano pass, then set up Phillipp Mwene for the second on 41 and Phillip Tietz for the third just after half-time. A goal and two assists, and he was taken off in the 67th minute with the game already gone.
Tietz got his second on 83 from a Lee assist, and Mwene turned provider for Königsdörffer at the end. Five goals, six Mainz players with a goal or an assist between them, and a Hamburg side that finished the afternoon with an expected goals figure of 0.19.
57,000 watched it happen
The Volksparkstadion was close to full for this. Hamburg had strengthened hard late in the window, with Fabio Vieira arriving permanently from Arsenal, Zakaria El Ouahdi signing to strengthen the right flank and David Møller Wolfe added on deadline day, and none of it showed.
Merlin Polzin took Jordan Torunarigha off at half-time and confirmed afterwards that it was not an injury, calling it a sporting decision. He also called the result a thoroughly deserved loss and said there was no point sugarcoating it so soon after the whistle. It is Hamburg’s second defeat in a row.
Fischer’s Mainz go fourth
Urs Fischer took the Mainz job in December 2025, and his side are fourth after two rounds. Augsburg lead the table after winning 4-1 at Eintracht Frankfurt on the same afternoon, with four clubs on six points, which is to say the table is not telling anyone much yet.
For Königsdörffer the numbers are worth a second look. He played 33 Bundesliga matches for Hamburg last season and scored five. He has been a Mainz player since the summer, he is 24, and his first game against his old club produced his first goal against them.