By Andrew Lord

30 April 2022

When the inevitable finally happened it turned out to be something of an anti-climax. Bayern Munich are the 2021/22 Bundesliga champions, but the reaction to the milestone of ten successive Bundesliga titles has been subdued. The Bavarian club is still smarting from the defeat to Villarreal in the quarter final of the Champions League just over two weeks ago. Bayern Munich have once again turned the Bundesliga into a procession after beating Borussia Dortmund 3-1 to take their total to 32 Bundesliga titles.

Bayern Munich now hold the record for the longest series of title wins in the top five leagues in Europe and at 34 years of age, Julian Nagelsmann, who was given the traditional beer shower after the game, is the second youngest title trainer in Bundesliga history after Matthias Sammer who won the title with Borussia Dortmund in 2002.

Last season, Bayern Munich beat RB Leipzig into second place by 13 points, the same tally the Bavarians finished ahead of Borussia Dortmund in the 2019/20 season. This time round, the gap is likely to be double figures once again.

Lack of competition

Bayern Munich’s total domination has raised concerns about the lack of competition in the Bundesliga.

“All of the other fights have been quite interesting,” said Freiburg trainer Christian Streich. “The relegation battle has been interesting. There are teams trying to qualify for the Europa League who have not qualified before. It is just the Bundesliga title race that unfortunately hasn’t been very exciting.”

“The discussions about the lack of excitement in the Bundesliga cannot diminish this great success,” said DFB Director Oliver Bierhoff. “Ten German league titles in succession is an impressive achievement and it demonstrates how well the club has worked for many years. This also applies to our national players who have once again shown their class.”

Only Lothar Matthäus sees an end to Bayern Munich’s dominance: “In the next five seasons, Bayern will not be champions each year, they will only win the Bundesliga on three occasions!” He believes that mistakes have been made in strategic planning and the club is not working in the same forward-thinking manner as in previous years. “Everything used to be more stable, but now some things are starting to wobble!” said the ex-Bayern Munich midfield general.

For Ottmar Hitzfeld the contract negotiations with the top performers Manuel Neuer, Thomas Müller, Robert Lewandowski and Serge Gnabry are “a daunting task,” but the ex- Bayern Munich trainer emphasised: “I don’t think Bayern Munich will decline in the next few years.”

The Bayern Munich mentality

Cologne trainer Steffen Baumgart told Sport Bild: “I think that the dominance of Bayern Munich will be difficult to break, because they have the best mentality of all top clubs in the Bundesliga.”

Matthias Sammer, who works as an advisor for Borussia Dortmund, is of the same opinion. “At Bayern Munich there is only victory or catastrophe! That has an effect on the mind, spirit and mentality of every player,” said the former sport director of Bayern Munich. “If there is a defeat, everything is questioned. At other clubs a different way of thinking prevails. People are happy with smaller successes and failures are simply whitewashed.”

When asked about the possibility of his club winning the Bundesliga title, RB Leipzig CEO Oliver Mintzlaffsaid: “If we persevere in the same way as we have been, it should be possible before 2032.” In 2017, Mintzlaff had stated that the aim was to win the title in the next five to ten years.

Financial advantage

Fernando Carro, chief executive of Bayer Leverkusen, highlighted the financial advantage of Bayern Munich’s annual budget which means the club does not need to sell players. The issue for Carro is that the margins are so slim that any club would need to perform at their highest level for a long period in order to dethrone the Bavarian club.

The international press has also viewed the overpowering dominance of Bayern Munich as a danger to the Bundesliga. The Spanish sports newspaper Marca wrote: “Good for Bayern, but bad news for the Bundesliga. Since the Bundesliga began Bayern Munich have won 31 titles, all of the other teams together have won 28.”

In Switzerland the newspaper Blick wrote: “The last time Bayern Munich weren’t champions, Barack Obama was still the President of the United States, the European Union won the Nobel Peace Prize and Roger Federer won a silver medal at the London Olympics. Ten years have passed. The world is completely different. The Bundesliga isn’t. Bayern are the undisputed number one.”

One issue is that Bayern Munich receive huge windfalls on an annual basis for competing in the Champions League, which gives them a further advantage . This season, Bayern Munich was the only German to reach the knockout phase in the last three seasons.

The 50+1 rule

Fernando Carro is in favour of the abolition of the 50+1 rule, which stipulates that football clubs in Germany are controlled by their fans. Commercial investors are not permitted to own more than a 49% stake in a Bundesliga club. Exceptions to this rule are clubs such as Bayer Leverkusen and Wolfsburg, who are exempt due to the investors in the clubs having an interest for more than 20 years. Those in favour of scrapping 50+1 argue it would lead to the level of investment seen in the Premier League. But the type of investors allowed to purchase clubs in England would be vehemently opposed by the majority of fans in the Bundesliga.

Freiburg trainer Christian Streich warned: “The league should not strive for improvement at any price.”

Some argue that abolishing the 50+1 rule would create an even greater gap as Bayern Munich would be the most attractive investment in the Bundesli.

The possibility of playoffs

The German Football League (DFL) has suggested playoffs at end of the Bundesliga season as a possible solution. The option has been viewed positively by Bayern Munich CEO Oliver Kahn: “Of course, the league would be more attractive if it had more competition at the top. There are no sacred cows for me. If playoffs would help us, then we’ll talk about playoffs. A Bundesliga system featuring semi-finals and finals would mean excitement for the fans.”

Either way, the Bundesliga has to find a solution to make the league more competitive. Many are rightly questioning the value of a league where the same club wins the title ten years in a row.

© Andrew Lord 2022