Stuttgart stumbles at Freiburg and Leipzig prevails against Bochum in Bundesliga openers

BERLIN (AP) — Bundesliga runner-up Stuttgart started the new season with a 3-1 loss at Freiburg, while Leipzig survived a sending off to beat Bochum 1-0 on Saturday.

Ermedin Demirović fired Stuttgart into an early lead at his former club with a scissors-kick in the second minute, but that was as good as it good for Sebastian Hoeneß’ team, which amassed a club-record points total last season.

Freiburg, which was playing its first league game since long-serving coach Christian Streich’s retirement, responded with three goals to give new coach Julian Schuster a winning start.

Bochum was unable to capitalize on Leipzig captain Willi Orban’s late sending off for denying Myron Boadu a clear goal chance. The 19-year-old Antonio Nusa’s second-half strike on his Bundesliga debut was enough for Leipzig.

Holstein Kiel endured a tough welcome to the league in a 3-2 loss at Hoffenheim, where the promoted side conceded an early penalty and had a player sent off late.

Augsburg drew with Werder Bremen 2-2, and Mainz held Union Berlin 1-1.

Borussia Dortmund was hosting Eintracht Frankfurt later, when the home fans had protests planned against their club’s sponsorship deal with an arms manufacturer. Nuri Sahin was also making his Bundesliga debut as Dortmund coach.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Bremen's Justin Njinmah celebrates scoring during the Bundesliga soccer match between FC Augsburg and Werder Bremen at WWK-Arena, Augsburg, Germany, Saturday Aug. 24, 2024. (Harry Langer/dpa via AP)

Mainz's Nadiem Amiri celebrates scoring during the Bundesliga soccer match between FSV Mainz 05 and 1. FC Union Berlin, at Mewa Arena, Mainz, Germany, Saturday Aug. 24, 2024. (Torsten Silz/dpa via AP)

Union's Laszlo Benes celebrates scoring during the Bundesliga soccer match between FSV Mainz 05 and 1. FC Union Berlin, at Mewa Arena, Mainz, Germany, Saturday Aug. 24, 2024. (Torsten Silz/dpa via AP)

Stuttgart's Maximilian Mittelstädt, right, and Freiburg's Lukas Kubler in action during the Bundesliga soccer match between SC Freiburg and VfB Stuttgart at Europa-Park Stadium, Freiburg, Germany, Saturday Aug. 24, 2024. (Philipp von Ditfurth/dpa via AP)

Stuttgart's Ermedin Demirovic, right, celebrates scoring with teammate Atakan Karazor during the Bundesliga soccer match between SC Freiburg and VfB Stuttgart at Europa-Park Stadium, Freiburg, Germany, Saturday Aug. 24, 2024. (Philipp von Ditfurth/dpa via AP)

Freiburg's Vincenzo Grifo, left, and Stuttgart's Pascal Stenzel in action during the Bundesliga soccer match between SC Freiburg and VfB Stuttgart at Europa-Park Stadium, Freiburg, Germany, Saturday Aug. 24, 2024. (Philipp von Ditfurth/dpa via AP)

Freiburg's Vincenzo Grifo, left, and Stuttgart's Jamie Leweling in action during the Bundesliga soccer match between SC Freiburg and VfB Stuttgart at Europa-Park Stadium, Freiburg, Germany, Saturday Aug. 24, 2024. (Philipp von Ditfurth/dpa via AP)

An advertising campaign featuring American actor Sydney Sweeney has sparked widespread backlash from female athletes who say it is sexualizing women in sports.

In the ad for the sports prediction market platform Novig, Sweeney appears with little or no clothing, covering parts of her body with strategically placed footballs and other sports apparel.

Many female athletes criticized the ad on social media and called it disrespectful to women.

“I can’t describe how infuriated I feel when I watch this,” four-time Olympic swimming gold medalist Ariarne Titmus wrote on Instagram. “How do we live in a world where monetizing a woman’s body and sexualizing women’s sport is still a thing?”

British sprinter Amy Hunt addressed the actor in a post-race interview with the BBC on Sunday after finishing fourth in the 200 meters at the Ultimate Championship in Budapest, Hungary.

“Sydney Sweeney, this is what women in sport look like,” she said, looking at the camera. “Muscles, hard work, sweat, blood, tears.”

Former U.S. gymnast Gracie Kramer called the ad infuriating.

“I’ve spent my entire life competing in a sport where female athletes have been oversexualized, reduced to our bodies, and forced to fight to be taken seriously for what we can actually do,” she said on Instagram.

Kramer posted stories featuring female athletes training with the caption: “What a woman in sports looks like.”

Sofie Fella, a Chinese-German rugby player, said female athletes can be role models for girls and women because they manage to “untangle” from society’s ideals of beauty and femininity.

“And that’s why that Sydney Sweeney ad is so disrespectful to every female athlete in the world,” she said in an Instagram post.

Novig didn’t immediately answer an email seeking comment. A publicist for Sweeney also didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

In an apparent reference to the criticism, Sweeney over the weekend posted a series of covers from ESPN The Magazine’s “Body Issue,” an annual special edition that showed athletes posing nude or semi-nude in a celebration of the diversity of bodies.

Sweeney, a two-time Emmy nominee, starred in and produced last year’s “Christy,” a biopic of American professional boxer Christy Martin.

This is not the first time her brand partnerships have sparked debate; her 2025 American Eagle campaign, which played on the homophones “jeans” and “genes,” previously triggered widespread online discussion.

FILE - Australia's Ariarne Titmus poses with her gold medal after winning the women's 400-meter freestyle final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, July 27, 2024, in Nanterre, France. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File)

Sydney Sweeney poses for photographers at the Armani beauty event during the 83rd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)