Frankfurt vs Hull City preview, prediction, team news: Onyedika & Ajayi set for Super Eagles duel

Newly signed Super Eagles midfielder Raphael Onyedika is in line to feature for Eintracht Frankfurt for the first time when the Bundesliga club host Hull City in a pre-season friendly on Saturday, August 8, Afrik-Foot reports.

The match at the maxworx Sportpark in Dreieich pits a Frankfurt side being rebuilt under returning head coach Adi Hütter against a Hull City team preparing for a first Premier League campaign in nine years under Sergej Jakirović.

Both dressing rooms carry a Super Eagles influence on the day, with Onyedika lining up against Hull defender Semi Ajayi, who helped the Tigers seal an unlikely route back to the top flight in May.

The two clubs have never met before, so form and early squad impressions rather than any rivalry will shape how this one is read.

Eintracht Frankfurt bring new-look squad into Hull City friendly

Eintracht Frankfurt limped to eighth place in the Bundesliga last season, a campaign that cost both Dino Toppmöller and his successor Albert Riera their jobs inside 12 months.

Frankfurt shipped goals for fun in the second half of that campaign, sliding from Champions League qualification the year before to missing out on any European football altogether.

Under Hütter, back at the club for a second spell after guiding Frankfurt to a Europa League semi-final in his first season in 2018-19, pre-season has looked sharper, with three wins from four warm-up friendlies and 11 goals scored along the way.

The one blemish was a goalless draw with Rot-Weiss Oberhausen, though a seven-goal romp past regional side FC Gießen flattered the numbers somewhat.

Hütter’s main job this summer has been integrating close to a dozen new arrivals, with Onyedika the highest-profile of them after his 10-million-euro move from Club Brugge was confirmed on August 2.

Brazilian full-back Otávio also joined during Frankfurt’s training camp, while Arthur Theate, Ayoube Amaimouni-Echghouyab and Elye Wahi only returned to full training this week after an extended break following the 2026 World Cup.

Frankfurt’s target this season is straightforward: reclaim a place in Europe after finishing a distant eighth, 12 points off the Conference League spot occupied by Freiburg.

Hull City’s story could hardly be more different, arriving at this friendly on the back of the most improbable of promotions.

Sergej Jakirović’s side finished sixth in the Championship, 23 points off top-flight automatic promotion, before winning all three of their play-off matches without conceding a goal.

A two-nil aggregate win over Millwall in the semi-finals set up a Wembley final against Middlesbrough, settled by Oli McBurnie’s stoppage-time finish that ended Hull’s nine-year absence from the Premier League.

The Tigers have used pre-season to travel through Slovenia and Turkey, drawing with Kasımpaşa and beating both Çaykur Rizespor and Konyaspor.

Owner Acun Ilıcalı has backed a squad rebuild headlined by club-record goalkeeper Konstantinos Tzolakis, who arrives from Olympiacos and is set to make his Hull debut against Frankfurt.

Hidemasa Morita, Óscar Zambrano, Matt Targett and Jack Butland have also arrived as Jakirović looks to add top-flight know-how around a core group that overachieved its way out of the Championship.

With a home Premier League opener against Manchester United on August 22, this is one of the Tigers’ last chances to sharpen a defence that must adjust quickly to a far higher level.

Head-to-head: first-ever meeting for Eintracht Frankfurt and Hull City

Eintracht Frankfurt and Hull City have never played each other before, in a friendly or otherwise, so Saturday’s game is a first in both clubs’ histories.

That lack of history removes any note of rivalry from proceedings, leaving pre-season form and early squad impressions as the only real guide to what might happen.

Frankfurt’s most recent test against Premier League opposition ended badly, a 1-5 defeat to Liverpool in last season’s Champions League league phase, giving Hütter’s side an added reason to show progress against English opposition this time.

Team news: Onyedika and Tzolakis both in line for full debuts

Eintracht Frankfurt

Onyedika became the sixth Nigerian to play for Frankfurt, following a line that began with club great Austin Okocha between 1992 and 1996.

The 25-year-old, who has won 26 caps for the Super Eagles and featured for Nigeria at the Africa Cup of Nations, has said Okocha’s spell at the club was part of what drew him to Frankfurt.

He is expected to be paired alongside Hugo Larsson in a rebuilt double pivot, with Noel Aseko also in contention as Hütter reshapes the midfield.

Defender Aurèle Amenda left the club in July, adding further incentive for Hütter to settle on a first-choice back line quickly.

Predicted Eintracht Frankfurt XI (4-2-3-1): Zetterer; Baum, Koch, Theate, Nkounkou; Larsson, Onyedika; Knauff, Götze, Doan; Burkardt.

Hull City

Semi Ajayi, the Super Eagles centre-back, is expected to lead the Hull backline after a season in which he made 24 Championship appearances and played every minute of the play-off run.

Manager Jakirović has previously flagged the physical toll of Ajayi’s international travel, so his workload is likely to be managed carefully in a game with no competitive stakes.

Tzolakis, a nine-cap Greece international who arrived for a club-record fee from Olympiacos, is set to make his first appearance for Hull in this match.

Predicted Hull City XI (4-2-3-1): Tzolakis; Coyle, Hughes, Ajayi, Giles; Slater, Morita; Kamara, Dowell, Millar; McBurnie.

Star player: Burkardt and McBurnie headline the finishing

Frankfurt’s leading man is Jonathan Burkardt, who finished last season as the club’s top scorer in both the league and all competitions despite limited minutes.

Hull’s answer is Oli McBurnie, whose goals dragged the Tigers through the play-offs and whose stoppage-time finish at Wembley remains the defining moment of their promotion.

The Managers: Hütter’s second coming, Jakirović’s rapid rise

Adi Hütter returned to Eintracht Frankfurt on July 1, more than five years after leaving the club, taking over from Albert Riera on a contract until June 2029.

The Austrian’s first spell in Frankfurt between 2018 and 2021 remains fondly remembered, highlighted by a run to the Europa League semi-finals in his opening season in charge.

Hütter went on to manage Borussia Mönchengladbach and then AS Monaco, where he reached back-to-back top-three finishes in Ligue 1 before his dismissal in October 2025.

He inherits a Frankfurt side that finished eighth last season under three different head coaches, and his stated aim is a swift return to European competition.

Sergej Jakirović only took charge of Hull City in July 2025, arriving with no previous experience of English football.

The Bosnian’s methodical approach steadied a club that had narrowly avoided relegation to League One the previous season, guiding the Tigers to sixth place and a play-off run in which they won every match without conceding a goal.

Jakirović has become the first manager from Bosnia and Herzegovina to lead a team into a Premier League season.

His challenge now shifts from surviving the Championship to competing physically with far stronger top-flight opposition, starting with Manchester United.

Tactical preview: Eintracht Frankfurt vs. Hull City

Hütter has historically favoured an aggressive 4-2-3-1 built on quick transitions, high pressing triggers and overlapping full-backs, and Frankfurt’s pre-season shape has followed a similar template.

Onyedika alongside Hugo Larsson would give that system a more physical double pivot than Frankfurt had for long spells last season, when a lack of protection in front of the back four was repeatedly exposed.

Ritsu Doan and Ansgar Knauff offer the pace in behind that Hütter likes to exploit down the flanks, with Mario Götze dropping into pockets between the lines to link play.

Jakirović, by contrast, is expected to set Hull up in a compact 4-2-3-1 that prioritises defensive shape above all else, the method that carried the club through their play-off run.

Semi Ajayi’s aerial presence and composure on the ball at centre-back will be central to how Hull cope with Frankfurt’s movement in the final third, particularly if Burkardt drops short to drag defenders out of position.

The visitors may look to break quickly through Abu Kamara and Liam Millar in wide areas, targeting the space Frankfurt’s full-backs vacate when they push forward.

With both sides still building fitness and cohesion this early in pre-season, the game should open up more than a competitive fixture would, favouring attacking players over defensive units still finding their range.

Eintracht Frankfurt vs. Hull City prediction and betting tips

Frankfurt have scored 11 goals across their four pre-season friendlies while conceding just once, and Hull have found the net in every warm-up game they have played this summer.

Neither defence looks settled this early in pre-season, which shapes our Eintracht Frankfurt vs. Hull City tips below.

Final score prediction: Eintracht Frankfurt vs. Hull City

Frankfurt’s pre-season scoring form and home advantage should be enough to see off a Hull side still bedding in a rebuilt defence.