Hertha BSC v 1. FC Magdeburg — prediction, stats and goal analysis

2. Bundesliga · Sunday, 6 September 2026. Final score 2–1 (half-time 1–1). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 54% for over 2.5 goals. This match is older than our frozen ratings ledger, which keeps 30 days, so that figure is a reconstruction from pre-match data rather than a number we published at the time — a distinction worth making, because only the frozen ones prove what we actually said beforehand.

Open this match in the app →

Our ratings for this match

MarketYesNoOur call
Over 2.5 goals54%46%Over
Over 3.5 goals32%68%no pick
Both teams to score57%43%Yes

The result model puts Hertha BSC at 34%, the draw at 26% and 1. FC Magdeburg at 40%, from expected goals of 1.37 and 1.51.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. 2. Bundesliga has produced over 2.5 goals in 58% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Hertha BSC have 2 in 3 this season (1 of 1 at home), 1. FC Magdeburg 2 in 3 (1 of 1 away). Those records are pulled toward the league rate with the weight of about 24 matches — enough that two or three unusual games cannot swing a rating — giving 59% and 59%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 3 and 3 games played this season, last season's rates are still blended in and fade out entirely by game 40 — the point at which our testing showed they stop adding accuracy. A single season is part luck, so each club's record is first pulled toward the league average by 34 games' weight. That moves the two figures to 53% and 56%.

The mix. Weighted 40% home side, 40% away side and 20% league — the split that beat every alternative across 30,582 matches of testing — that gives 55%.

Head to head. These sides have met 4 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 25%. That nudges the number 5% of the way toward the head-to-head pattern — deliberately small, because fixtures change more than reputations do — landing on 54%.

Goal expectation. Separately a Poisson model built from attack and defence strength — using real expected-goals data where the league has it — puts this match at 55%, from expected goals of 1.37 for Hertha BSC and 1.51 for 1. FC Magdeburg. Folding in 30% of that view gives 54%.

This breakdown is generated from the same inputs the rating uses, so it cannot describe a calculation we did not perform. The full model is set out in the methodology.

Season form

TeamGamesO2.5O3.5BTTS
Hertha BSC367%67%67%
1. FC Magdeburg367%33%33%

Head to head

3 May 261. FC Magdeburg 1–0 Hertha BSCU2.5
7 Dec 25Hertha BSC 0–2 1. FC MagdeburgU2.5
25 Apr 25Hertha BSC 1–1 1. FC MagdeburgU2.5
29 Nov 241. FC Magdeburg 1–3 Hertha BSCO2.5

More: Hertha BSC season stats · 1. FC Magdeburg season stats · 2. Bundesliga table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.