The Bundesliga’s preoccupation with play-offs is the right response to the boredom at the top of the table. A commentary analysis by chief reporter Karlheinz Wild.
Already as a goalkeeper, Oliver Kahn (52) loved the competition, the duel. He drew his ultimate drive, his ambition, from this intense attitude to the game of football; this is how he pushed himself into the world class for years. Famous, long since inscribed in football’s collection of quotations and now commonplace in everyday speech, are the words he shouted across the Hamburg stadium on that 19 May 2001: “Go on! Onwards! Keep going!”
HSV player Sergej Barbarez had just scored the 1:0 lead seconds before the final whistle on that 34th matchday of the 2000/01 season. FC Schalke 04 now seemed assured of championship honours when Bayern defender Patrik Andersson rifled a free-kick through Hamburg’s defensive legs into the net in injury time.
Bayern have been champions since 2013 – with an average lead of 14 points
There was a time when the race for the German championship was captivating, spellbinding. Those days are long gone. Since 2012/13, the Bundesliga leaders have been FC Bayern München, back when the record champions won the triple and the trophy with a record lead of 25 points. Since then, the Munich team has won the German title nine times in a row, on average 14 points ahead of the runners-up. Only once was it close, in 2018/19, when FCB and BVB from Dortmund were separated by just two points.
And this season? After 21 rounds, Bayern have nine points and 29 goals more on their credit side than Dortmund in second place. When can football Germany congratulate Bayern on their anniversary, their tenth German championship in a row? On the 30th matchday? On the 31st? Much earlier? Actually, already now? What a huge distance between Munich and the relegated rest will the final table show this time?
The remaining 2021/22 Bundesliga season must therefore draw its suspense – as has long been the case – from the decisions below the championship. Who will reach the Champions League, the Europa League? Who will hold their own in the relegation battle? These questions also increase the attractiveness of the league, to be sure. But does the Bundesliga want to continue to console itself in the coming years with the fact that it is only about the places behind Bayern Munich?
The discussion now opened is the right answer to boredom
The discussion now opened about play-offs to determine the champion is the right answer to the boredom at the top of the Bundesliga. Oliver Kahn is honoured that, as chairman of the board of the subscription champions from Munich, he finds it “exciting” to “think about new models like play-offs for the Bundesliga” and does not categorically reject such ideas, although he knows, of course, that this is more likely to jeopardise the dominance of his Bavarians than the previous format. “We at FC Bayern,” says Kahn, “are always open to new ideas.”
The arguments must now be exchanged calmly and objectively. Aspects there are the local culture and tradition, the fairness and meaningfulness of knockout games after 34 match days and their consequences for the whole business (such as additional income). “A mode in the Bundesliga with semi-finals and finals would mean excitement for the fans,” Kahn rightly says. He is only naming one variant after the 34 Bundesliga match days. There will be several more.
The FCB CEO rightly refers to the Champions League, which after a good three decades will be played from 2024 onwards with a changed model “from which we expect a lot”. This reform and more matches are intended to generate more money, of course, but also to reduce the sporting predictability of the group stage and the round of 16 in the continental premium league.
“carefully prepare this open-ended discussion process and conduct it with the clubs in the coming months”. The pros and cons must now be negotiated in an unexcited manner all round.
It is an urgently needed debate. The long extinguished competition at the top of the Bundesliga must be rekindled
