Frankfurt / Main (dpa) – Donata Hopfen had been managing director of the German Football League for less than two months when she had already upset the eloquent Bayern patron Uli Hoeneß.
With her cheeky statements (“If playoffs help us, then we’ll talk about playoffs”), the new strong woman in the Bundesliga not only angered many football fans and traditionalists, but also and especially Hoeneß, who had helped build Munich’s current national dominance for decades.
Accordingly, Hoeneß poisoned back: “The new managing director of the DFL is now thinking day and night about how we can break the dominance of FC Bayern. And now they come up with this idea.” He spoke in his typical clearness of “joke idea”. It’s not about more excitement and attractiveness, but about “a law against Bayern Munich”. For a few months, this discussion has been more topical than ever, linked to the question: How can this Bundesliga ever get exciting again?
No end of series in sight
Bayern are champions ten times in a row, an unprecedented series in the top European leagues. But that’s not all: The team, led by the still in the best of spirits Manuel Neuer and Thomas Müller, not only wins bowl after bowl, but also does this in an impressive manner year after year. Eight titles were brought in with a two-digit lead, and that’s what it looks like again this season. Only in 2018/19 was there a close duel with Borussia Dortmund. In short: there is no end in sight to the series.
Football expert Matthias Sammer, who was Bayern Munich’s sporting director from 2012 to 2016, sees the financial and personal superiority as well as the mentality of FC Bayern as a big plus. «If there is a failure, everything is questioned. Other clubs have a different mindset. There you are satisfied with smaller successes, failures are glossed over,” said Sammer of “Sport Bild” and named the disappointing end in the premier class against FC Villarreal as an example.
“At Bayern there is only: victory or disaster! It affects the mind, spirit and mentality of every player, »explained Sammer. This is sometimes exhausting, but it also has to be learned from the competition. “Developing this greed is a process that doesn’t happen overnight. But that’s exactly the key of FC Bayern, »said Sammer, who, together with the then coach Pep Guardiola, had a massive impact on the early phase of this dominant decade.
Next generation is ready
This spring, there seemed to be something like a glimmer of hope. National player Niklas Süle moved from Munich to Dortmund on a free transfer, the otherwise flawless Bayern suddenly lost in Bochum or failed in the cup, the framework of the subscription champions around Neuer (36), Müller (32) and world footballer Robert Lewandowski (33) is not getting any younger either currently only has contracts until summer 2023.
But does that really give hope? With the 1995 vintage around national players Joshua Kimmich, Serge Gnabry and Leon Goretzka, the next generation is already ready. And when Bundesliga stars like Dortmund’s Erling Haaland or Leipzig’s Christopher Nkunku are traded on the transfer market, the name Bayern quickly comes up as a matter of course. On the other hand, it can be safely ruled out that a Gnabry will move to Leipzig or a Müller to Dortmund. Süle’s remarkable change of sides may have already marked the summit in this regard.
Playoff-Idee vs. Tradition
BVB boss Hans-Joachim Watzke is not too optimistic that the current situation can change quickly. “Nobody denies that the missing master race is basically a problem,” said Watzke at “Zeit online”. What can be done about dominance? “To be honest, only crass socialist or extreme capitalist instruments could help,” said Borussia’s desperate club boss.
The playoff idea is undoubtedly attractive in terms of excitement and variety, but a look back at the past few years of the DFB Cup is enough. There the Munich team only won five titles in ten seasons – and, for example, defeats against Frankfurt, near Gladbach or second division Holstein Kiel. It remains to be seen whether the league is ready to leave decades of tradition behind and to overload the full calendar even more in order to generate more excitement in the last one-dimensional championship fight.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:220428-99-78273/3
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