BERLIN (AP) — Bundesliga opponents suddenly know Bayern Munich is beatable after Augsburg’s shock win over the league leader last weekend.
Promoted Hamburger SV will be the first team to test this new reality when Bayern visits on Saturday.
Like Augsburg before, Hamburg has not shown much to suggest it can pull off an upset. Merlin Polzin’s team has not won a game since early December after beating Werder Bremen in the Northern derby and it hasn’t scored in its last two games.
Bayern, which routed Hamburg 5-0 in the reverse fixture, made a record start to the league through 18 rounds and will be keen to reassert its superiority after Augsburg’s 2-1 win derailed its bid to complete the season unbeaten.
It was Bayern's first league defeat since last March.
“The crucial thing will be our reaction to it,” Joshua Kimmich said.
Coach-less Eintracht Frankfurt hosts Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday. Frankfurt hasn’t had much to cheer of late but it did snap its run of conceding three goals in every game this year when it lost only 2-0 to Tottenham in the Champions League on Wednesday. The club is reportedly close to signing coach Albert Riera from Slovenian league leader NK Celje as Dino Toppmöller’s replacement.
High-flying Hoffenheim hosts Union Berlin on Saturday. Christian Ilzer’s team is third and well positioned for Champions League qualification after four straight wins and just one defeat in 14 Bundesliga games.
Leipzig and Stuttgart are level on points in their duel for fourth place, the last for Champions League qualification. Leipzig hosts improving Mainz on Saturday before Stuttgart entertains Freiburg on Sunday.
Borussia Dortmund forward Serhou Guirassy missed a big chance against Inter Milan on Wednesday and appears to have lost the confidence that helped him amass 70 goals in 119 Bundesliga appearances for Dortmund, Stuttgart and Cologne. He scored 21 Bundesliga goals for Dortmund last season and has only six so far in 2025-26. Guirassy will get another chance against last-placed Heidenheim on Sunday.
He’s back. Bayern’s Jamal Musiala scored from a narrow angle in Wednesday’s win over PSV Eindhoven, his first goal since returning from a broken leg.
Former Real Madrid star Lucas Vázquez scored his first goal for Leverkusen to beat Werder Bremen 1-0 last weekend. He set up another goal in the Champions League on Wednesday. The 34-year-old Vázquez missed much of the season with injury but is now an option for Kasper Hjulmand’s side.
Edin Džeko scored on his Schalke debut last weekend, when he became the oldest player to score in Germany’s second division at 39 years, 314 days. He could start against Bochum on Saturday.
Leverkusen’s Eliesse Ben Seghir was diagnosed with a ligament injury in his left ankle after returning from the Africa Cup of Nations with Morocco. But Burkina Faso defender Edmond Tapsoba is making progress on his comeback.
Hamburg suspended French winger Jean-Luc Dompé “until further notice” for drink driving after police detected alcohol with a breathalyzer test at a traffic stop on Sunday. The club said in a statement it will “decide on further consequences after further internal deliberations.”
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Bayern's head coach Vincent Kompany shouts directions during a Champions League opening phase soccer match between PSV and Bayern Munich in Eindhoven, Netherlands, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Bayern's Jamal Musiala controls the ball during a Champions League opening phase soccer match between PSV and Bayern Munich in Eindhoven, Netherlands, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Bayern's Harry Kane walks as Augsburg's players celebrate at the end of the German Bundesliga soccer match between Bayern Munich and FC Augsburg in Munich, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (Peter Kneffel/dpa via AP)
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Human-caused climate change worsened recent torrential rains and floods that devastated parts of southern Africa, killing more than 100 people and displacing hundreds of thousands, researchers said Thursday.
A study by the World Weather Attribution, which analyzed the recent heavy rainfalls that caused severe flooding in parts of South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, showed that the region experienced a year's worth of rain in a period of 10 days.
It resulted in widespread damage to housing and infrastructure estimated to run to millions of dollars, while humanitarian agencies say there is an escalating crisis for people displaced and facing hunger, disease outbreaks and a lack of health services because of the destruction.
Many homes and buildings in Mozambique were completely submerged under water and dozens of hospitals and clinics were destroyed, while roads and bridges were swept away in the South African provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga and parts of Zimbabwe.
The study was conducted by scientists from across the world using peer-reviewed methods to assess the impact of climate change on severe weather patterns and events.
The data obtained from the recent downpours, the rare magnitude of which occurs roughly once every 50 years, confirmed a “clear move toward more violent downpours,” the study said.
It was also compounded by the current La Nina weather phenomenon which naturally brings wetter conditions in the southern Africa region but was now operating within a much warmer atmosphere.
“Our analysis clearly shows that our continued burning of fossil fuels is not only increasing the intensity of extreme rainfall, but turning events that would have happened anyway into something much more severe,” said Izidine Pinto, a senior climate researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute.
Pinto, who co-authored the study, said the climate models used struggled to pinpoint exactly how much worse the recent floods were made by climate change, but that a 40% increase in the intensity of the rains would be impossible to explain without human-caused climate change.
“It means what would have already been a serious period of heavy rain has been transformed into a more violent deluge that communities are not equipped to deal with,” he said.
Africa contributes only 3% to 4% of global emissions, according to the United Nations, and yet is one of the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The floods and previous crises like cyclones in southern Africa cause hundreds of millions to billions of dollars' worth of damage in what are largely poor countries and the continent has urged richer nations to help more with climate-related disasters.
Around 1.3 million people across southern Africa were affected by this month's floods, The World Health Organization said.
The affected regions in southern Africa are no strangers to heavy downpours and flooding, but scientists were alarmed by the magnitude of the recent events.
“This event was a surprise to us because we have experienced the previous ones 25 years ago, which flooded the same areas,” said Bernardino Nhantumbo, a researcher with the Mozambique weather service. “There are places that have recorded in two to three days the rainfall that was expected for the entire rainy season, so this was very challenging to accommodate in any circumstances."
Nine international rivers flow downstream to Mozambique and signficant damage is expected following such an event due to heavy rainfall as well as the stream flow, Nhantumbo said.
“We forecast well because we have different models, but these are those events that even with a good forecast you cannot hold the damages that are associated,” he said.
The central and southern parts of Mozambique were the hardest hit, with the Gaza provincial capital of Xai-Xai and the nearby town of Chokwe largely submerged under water.
The researchers also have called for the development of climate models in Africa in order to best understand the dynamics and extent of the impact of climate change in the continent's various regions.
The lack of climate models developed in Africa was part of the reason why most models struggled to pinpoint exactly how much worse the recent floods were made by climate change, according to Friederike Otto, professor of climate science at the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College in London.
“All climate models that we have that are freely available are developed outside of Africa. They are all developed within climate modeling centers in the U.S., Europe and some in Asia,” Otto said. “But there is not a single climate model that is developed in Africa. Because of this they are usually designed so that they get the weather best in the regions they are made for, and that is true for all models."
AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa
People walk through floodwaters in Nkomazi, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa, on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Alfonso Nqunjana)
This image made from video shows the scene after flooding in Tete Province, Mozambique, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo)
Flood waters cover the Chibuto-Chaimite road in Gaza province, Mozambique, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo)
