Top club or overperforming relegation candidate? SC Freiburg’s flight, analyzed by Jakob Ruisinger.
Anyone who is currently looking at the table of the 1st Bundesliga will probably rub their eyes in amazement, because against the expectations of before this season, SC Freiburg is currently in 5th place (as of 03/21/22) and is literally floating through the league. And not only that, SC Freiburg is also in the semi-finals of the DFB Cup, where they were drawn to what is supposed to be the lightest team. On April 19, they will face Hamburger SV away. (Meanwhile, the SCF is in the DFB Cup final, ed.)
With Nico Schlotterbeck, the sports club also has a very talented central defender with great potential. Thanks to him, the SCF has the second-best defense in the league (as of March 22, 2022) after FC Bayern Munich. But is the hype about the traditional club from Breisgau justified in the long term or will the overperformance end soon, nobody knows. However, I am trying to find an answer to this question.
Let’s start by looking at the history of the cult club. In 1904, the two predecessor clubs Freiburger Fußballverein 04 and FC Schwalbe were founded, which merged in 1912 to form SC Freiburg. In 1993 the SCF was promoted to the 1st Bundesliga for the first time. So far, SC Freiburg has not been able to play a major role there, with the exception of the 16/17 season, when the team managed to qualify for the Europa League and were eliminated there in the third round.
Little can be deduced from history, since there have not yet been any notable successes. That is why we are directing our focus to youth work and transfer policy. The club from Breisgau is a training club, which means that the club buys young talented players and trains them – later they are resold for far more than their purchase price. The problem is that you never have real top stars.
However, the Badeners have a high level of continuity, which means that both players and coaches have been under contract for an above-average period. That’s why coach Christian Streich can plan well because he always knows who he’s dealing with. This aspect could indicate that the SCF could hold its level for a longer period of time. However, if you assume that the sports club would reach the Champions League, the team would get 450,000 euros for just one point in the group stage, not to mention the TV money.
But player salaries would also rise rapidly if Freiburg could qualify for the big international business. However, it is clear that with a qualification the quality of the squad could be significantly increased in some positions, which in turn would suggest that the club could play at the top of the league in the long term.
But now to the last, but also important point, the SC effect, which cannot be explained scientifically and plays a major role. In a nutshell, the SC Freiburg effect is that every player is happy and fits into Christian Streich’s game system, which has been perfected over the years, with passion and love.
So it can be said that SC Freiburg’s role depends on whether you can reach international business. If so, then the chances of continuing to hold up are high. But if they don’t qualify, the signs are more likely to be midfield to relegation places. But as a SC fan, I hope not.
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