Yet another boring test match labeled a competition aka The German Liga-Pokal

For quite some time now the German Liga-Pokal officially starts off the new season. Rising from the ashes of the Fuji-Cup, a 4 Bundesliga-team competition which took place in small towns and villages it was established to promote the Bundesliga in the 1990s. At first 4 teams competed, then they changed the rules to six teams with two quarterfinals, semifinals and the final. There was no regular ground where it took place at first, then they gave it to Leverkusen, if I remember that correctly, it was also played in Mainz and now it's situated in Leipzig.


Honestly, this thing is straight out ugly...

So this year's final was between Bayern Munich and Schalke 04. Both teams looked really convincing in their semifinal matches, Bayern beating VfB Stuttgart 2-0 and Schalke defeating 1. FC Nuremburg 4-2. So everything was set for the final ... and yet again it was a huge disappointment. Let's be honest, this competition is just another chance for the teams to test their lineups before the season starts. Does anyone actually take this seriously? It's just another thing you can write in the headline of a letter of the club.

Right now they are thinking about changing the rules again, one thought even going in the direction of having around 30 teams to participate. This is hilarious.