Amidst the pandemic, the German government have amazingly given the all clear for the Bundesliga to commence starting May 16th -despite three players testing positive for COVID-19 just this week. From a sports fan perspective, the sport partially returning will be a delight for eyes that haven’t seen high quality football for almost two months and the Bundesliga is one of the most exciting leagues in the world at the moment.
Bayern Munich are top of the league by four points and are on track for their eighth title in a row with Robert Lewandowski consistently leading the line and scoring incomprehensible amount of goals. The polish man has scored 20+ goals in 8 of his 10 seasons at the top level and seems to be getting better and better at the ripe age of 31. Bayern look to stand a good chance of retaining their title but their nearest rivals Borussia Dortmund, are only four points behind and have put a magnificent team together after the signing of wonderkid, Håland.
Dortmund signed Jadon Sancho for a bargain fee of around £8 million and last season bagged 12 goals alongside a further 17 assists which is an amazing season by anyone’s standards but for an 18-year-old that’s as promising as it comes. This season has not been any different, he’s scored 14 goals and managed 15 assists in 23 games, an average of 1.26 goal contributions a game, ridiculous. Thorgan Hazard and Hakimi have also registered 10 assists each, really proving that the offensive power that Dortmund possesses is uncapped.
Leipzig have been a joy to watch in very recent times, the Eastern based club was only founded in 2009 but have spring boarded into Germanys topflight and have proven it is in no way a fluke. They seem to continue defying expectations and have proven in the Champions League that they’re ready to compete on the international stage aswell. Timo Werner has been the centre of endless interest from Europe’s top clubs and is available for a fee affordable by the majority and it’s with good reason. The German striker has led the line for the whole of Leipzig’s four year run in the Bundesliga so far and has scored 71 goals so far- this season scoring 21 in only 25 appearances. Peter Gulácsi and Dayot Upamecano have also been huge in Leipzig’s rise, with Gulácsi in goal during the 33 games he played last season he had a 48.5% clean sheet ratio, over 7% higher than Gladbach’s Sommer in second.
Borussia Monchengladbach have ascended to the top half of the German league in the last 5 years and picked up manager Marco Rose from a massively overachieving Salzburg side that not only won the Austrian league but managed a European semi-final. Monchengladbach haven’t got any world beating players like the three teams above them but with their style of play and management they’re a real force to be reckoned with and have shown great consistency against the lower teams but have struggled against their top 6 competitors, with exception of a home win against Bayern. The West German side haven’t finished in the top 2 of the Bundesliga in 42 years and it’d be some feat to finish there this season. The club is on the rise none the less and with the Champions League football they’re also playing, they’re one to keep a close eye on in the coming years.
Bayer Leverkusen at the end of the 20th century were one of Germany’s top teams and have fallen from grace without a strong Bundesliga finish in over 10 years. They’ve proven themselves to still be a prominent threat this year with wins against Dortmund and a strong run in the Champions League but they started the season very poorly and find themselves in 5th, 2 points behind the previously mentioned, Monchengladbach. Leon Bailey’s injury riddled season hasn’t helped with their current league position and Kai Havertz also hasn’t figured as much as last season. If Leverkusen could resume the form they were on prior to the break, they’re going to find a way into the top 4.
The sixth position in the Bundesliga is currently occupied by Schalke who sit 10 points behind Leverkusen, but are very closely followed by Wolfsburg, Freiburg and Hoffenheim who are all separated by only 2 points. Finishing in this position in the league will get any of these sides the chance to qualify for the Europa league and that’d be expected for each of these clubs as they’re regularly taking part in European competitions but for Freiburg it’d be a great finish. They were promoted as champions in 2015/16 and secured a European qualification spot in their first season back in the topflight but were unsuccessful in a first round exit to Slovenian side, Domžale. The European spots are very closely contested but the difference between the rest of the league is not a huge jump either.
Cologne make up 10th position with 32 points, 3 points behind the European hopefuls. They sit in the middle of the table, 5 points from 6th and 6 points from just above the relegation zone so there’s no space for slip ups. 11th to 14 consists of Union Berlin, Frankfurt, Hertha Berlin and Augsburg. Frankfurt really stand out in this group, the last 2 seasons they’ve secured European football but after the sales of Sebastian Haller and Luka Jović they’ve seemed to lack the cutting edge offensively, they’ve also only kept 4 clean sheets in 25 games which is inexcusable.
The bottom four in this seasons Bundesliga are currently Mainz, Dusseldorf, Werder Bremen and finally, Paderborn. The relegation setup for the German league and a few other European leagues is different to the English system that many football fans are familiar with. The bottom two clubs get automatically relegated and 16th (third bottom) goes into a play-off game against the team that finish 3rd in the Bundesliga .2, the winner gets their place in the top tier and the loser plays the next season in the second tier.
Werder Bremen have played the most games as a club in the Bundesliga’s history and the topflight regulars are in serious danger of relegation, they’re sitting on 18 points with safety 8 points away. The 2004 league and cup double winners had expectations of Europe this season and it’s gone horrendously wrong and could be a sour year in the club’s brilliant history. Bremen have scored the least goals in the league this season and have also conceded the most, they’re in a difficult position.
The remaining 9 games start this weekend and it remains to be seen how these teams will return to football, there is rumours that each team will be allowed five substitutes but for how long that rule will continue is yet to be known. A match preview will be available here on Friday, football is back folks.
Below is the current Bundesliga in full
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