On matchday 33, the Bundesliga breaks with a long tradition. The nine games no longer take place in parallel, but are split up over three days. That’s a shame for the tension and drama of the league – and raises questions about a possible distortion of competition.
Grotesque scenes yesterday in Bochum. A Schalke and a few Bochum sit together and watch RB Leipzig against SV Werder Bremen. The only topic: which result is likely to be an advantage for your own club in the relegation battle! And suddenly, a game that is latently uninteresting for the general public turns into an explosive and dramatic encounter. You can’t make up a story like that – football alone writes it. And in this case, finally, the German Bundesliga again.
Because two game days before the end of the season, the drops have not yet sucked for almost all clubs. A bitter fight for the title, the intense struggle for places in Europe and an emotional fight against relegation from the league keep the tension high. And now, of all times, the Bundesliga is changing a tried and tested tradition for the explosive final. Instead of being successfully carried out for many years, only the 34th matchday is played in parallel.
BVB complains about the appointments in the league
The 33rd match day, on the other hand – like the other 32 before – takes place over three days. On the one hand, this destroys the tension in a fatal way and, in a certain way, also distorts the competition, as Dortmund’s sporting director Sebastian Kehl rightly said a few days ago: “We can’t change it, nobody asked us. If you ask me honestly, I feel that as a certain disadvantage if you draw three times in the next three weeks.”
But in addition to the understandable criticism from BVB about a possible influence on competition, it is above all the aspect of tension that makes this decision by the DFL appear somewhat unfortunate and probably too short-sighted. Because TV marketing is of course essential as the central revenue model for the Bundesliga – and it is therefore understandable that attempts are made to meet the needs of the broadcasters – but especially in this year, in which the league is no longer as exciting as it was a long, long time ago fans will sorely miss the final High Noon moments in the penultimate 90 minutes of this season. The seconds and minutes in which everything can change in nine places in the blink of an eye are among the absolute highlights in the history of the league – and of course also ensure decisive added value for the Bundesliga. In the long term, unfortunately, it’s probably greed in the wrong place.
The ultimate culmination is lost
- Ben Redelings is a best-selling author and comedian from the Ruhr area.
His current book “60 Years Bundesliga. The Anniversary Album” is a modern classic from the publishing house “The workshop”
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Because a large part of the drama and excitement results from looking at the other places and from the possibilities that arise from the spontaneous and constantly changing situations. But at some point it’s over. This very special escalation reaches its climax exactly when, mathematically speaking, everything is suddenly over. And the probability that this can already be the case on the penultimate match day is not small. And that’s why it’s particularly unfortunate that some of these final moments may be lost as a result of the fragmentation of matchday 33. These dramatic scenes would do the league good, which had all too often been criticized in recent years for not winning the title.
At the moment not only Schalke and Bochum are counting on all possible results and constellations, as happened yesterday in the game between RB and Werder. This shows: The Bundesliga is alive – like it hasn’t been for a long time! The national focus over the next two weekends will be football. The Bundesliga will also benefit from this internationally. It is therefore particularly unfortunate that the Hollywood-ready staging and escalation on the 33rd day of the game will not be available this year. So let’s hope in terms of football that everything is still possible on the 34th matchday – even if some football fans can hardly bear the tension and drama these days.