German Bundesliga: The Season Recap

So this season is finally over and Bayern are champions again. Who would have thought...
There weren't any really big surprises apart from Nürnberg going straight down to the 2nd division after they had won the german cup a year ago. The almost did the same thing 40 years ago, when they were relegated after winning the championship, the only club to do so in the history of the Bundesliga. Having said that Bielefeld is staying in the Bundesliga which, I think, will be of some relief for other teams because I don't see Bielefeld strong enough to stay on top. Moving up the ladder the race for the Uefa-Cup was a close one. Four teams had a chance, but in the end only two remained. Hamburg and Wolfsburg will represent Germany in next year's competition while Stuttgart will test their luck in the UI-Cup and Leverkusen will have to watch it from afar. Apparently they are so frustrated at Leverkusen they immidiately fired coach Michael Skibbe, which is something I cannot understand at all. That man has built up something there, bringing in a lot of young players and having them play some really exciting football. Now having him kicked after a season which didn't earn the club a spot in international competition is way too much.
Speaking of changes, Borussia Dortmund finally got rid off coach Thomas Doll and that was the best that could happen to the club. Doll stepped down at his own will after a more than mediocre season with the appearance in the german cup final being his only accomplishment. He completely ruined the team, though I have to admit that some of his players are simply not fit for Bundesliga football.
Looking forward to next season I don't really see that many changes. Bayern will make it again, I think. Behind them there will be Schalke and Bremen (just as this year) and behind those two there will be two other teams out of Wolfsburg, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Leverkusen, maybe one surprise team as well. Somehow this is getting a little boring...
The final table:

1 Bayern München 34 22 10 2 68:21 47 76
2 Werder Bremen 34 20 6 8 75:45 30 66
3 FC Schalke 04 34 18 10 6 55:32 23 64
4 Hamburger SV 34 14 12 8 47:26 21 54
5 VfL Wolfsburg 34 15 9 10 58:46 12 54
6 VfB Stuttgart 34 16 4 14 57:57 0 52
7 Bayer Leverkusen 34 15 6 13 57:40 17 51
8 Hannover 96 34 13 10 11 54:56 -2 49
9 Eintracht Frankfurt 34 12 10 12 43:50 -7 46
10 Hertha BSC 34 12 8 14 39:44 -5 44
11 Karlsruher SC 34 11 10 13 38:53 -15 43
12 VfL Bochum 34 10 11 13 48:54 -6 41
13 Borussia Dortmund 34 10 10 14 50:62 -12 40
14 Energie Cottbus 34 9 9 16 35:56 -21 36
15 Arminia Bielefeld 34 8 10 16 35:60 -25 34
16 1. FC Nürnberg 34 7 10 17 35:51 -16 31
17 Hansa Rostock 34 8 6 20 30:52 -22 30
18 MSV Duisburg 34 8 5 21 36:55 -19 29

Going down one floor in the 2nd division you had some last minute drama on the last matchday. While almost everything was clear on top with M'gladbach and Cologne having secured promotion at the bottom of the table there were four teams fighting for survival. Former top level club 1.FC Kaiserslautern pulled themselves out of it by beating a team from Cologne who looked as if they had too much party after their promotion last weekend (3-0). So it had to be Kickers Offenbach, who lost to Osnabrück who are now joing Paderborn, Jena and Aue in what will be the new third division of german football next year. Meanwhile perhaps the biggest surprise was the promotion of Hoffenheim, a very small village in the south of Germany. Backed by the financial powers of Dietmar Hopp, the man behind computer giant SAP, this club went all the way from the pits of amateur football to the first division. Hopp, who actually played as a striker for Hoffenheim when he was young, achieved this not only by spending some money but also because he hired the right people for the coaching staff. Ralf Rangnick, former coach of Schalke, Hannover and Stuttgart is in charge and behind him there is Bernhard Peters who coordinates the training regimes for the youth teams. Peters, a former national hockey coach for Team Germany, was also in the mix for the german national football team before the World Cup in 2006, but was not considered, much to the anger of Klinsmann. So now those two are working in Hoffenheim and they brought this village of around 4.500 inhabitants to the Bundesliga. Which annoys a lot of those traditionalists who would rather see big clubs with a lot of history and big stadiums play on the top level. Still Hoffenheim earned it and, to be honest, I'd rather watch some decent football by a small club than see struggling big clubs who are simply not delivering. Welcome Hoffenheim.
The final Table of the 2nd Division:

1 Borussia M'gladbach 34 18 12 4 71:38 33 66
2 1899 Hoffenheim 34 17 9 8 60:40 20 60
3 1. FC Köln 34 17 9 8 62:44 18 60
4 1. FSV Mainz 05 34 16 10 8 62:36 26 58
5 SC Freiburg 34 15 10 9 49:44 5 55
6 SpVgg Greuther Fürth 34 14 10 10 53:47 6 52
7 Alemannia Aachen 34 14 9 11 49:44 5 51
8 SV Wehen Wiesbaden 34 11 11 12 47:53 -6 44
9 FC St. Pauli 34 11 9 14 47:53 -6 42
10 TuS Koblenz 34 12 11 11 46:47 -1 41
11 1860 München 34 9 14 11 42:45 -3 41
12 VfL Osnabrück 34 10 10 14 43:54 -11 40
13 1. FC Kaiserslautern 34 9 12 13 37:37 0 39
14 FC Augsburg 34 10 8 16 39:51 -12 38
15 Kickers Offenbach 34 9 11 14 38:60 -22 38
16 Erzgebirge Aue 34 7 11 16 49:57 -8 32
17 SC Paderborn 07 34 6 13 15 33:54 -21 31
18 FC Carl Zeiss Jena 34 6 11 17 45:68 -23 29

Which still leaves open who will be promoted to the 2nd division from the Regionalliga as there are still some matchdays left on their schedule.

And, of course there are the final two rounds on Verbandsliga level where Fortuna Köln is trying to get into first place to earn promotion to the new NRW Oberliga. Fortuna are four points behind leaders VfL Leverkusen who have to play at 13th place VfL Alfter who play their home games on ash which will be tough. While Fortuna take on Borussia Freialdenhoven (6th). If Leverkusen loses and Fortuna wins then we will have a real final at Leverkusen on the last day of the season as Fortuna will travel up north to take on the leaders. It's going to be close. If you're capable of understanding german here's a page where you can follow the action.