Leverkusen’s tarnished title
The Bundesliga has died a bit again
A comment from Roland Peters
April 15, 2024, 2:54 p.m
While other Bundesliga clubs have to fear for their existence if they make wrong decisions, clubs and constructs protected by the DFL play with financial freedom. It’s amazing that Leverkusen was only able to take advantage of this now.
Nobody denies that Leverkusen is playing the best football this Bundesliga season. Nobody questions the extraordinary dynamism, the naturalness, the variability. Nobody can close their eyes to the fact that coach Xabi Alonso has shaped outstanding individual players into a so far invincible team that could even win the treble. But no one can deny that it happens under the unfair conditions of a two-tier league.
What is astonishing is that, despite its advantages, the factory club has only now become German champions. Leverkusen, Wolfsburg, Leipzig de facto and, until recently, Hoffenheim also have the advantage that they can more or less not care about losses. They pay high transfer amounts, severance payments and salaries, and the companies simply make up for the million-dollar loss at the end. Bad purchases, financing acrobatics, unexpectedly bad seasons, it doesn’t matter. This is not sporting competition under equal conditions. The DFL allows exceptions, the cartel office raises its finger in warning, but otherwise nothing happens.
Leverkusen’s championship is almost a logical consequence. Other clubs have been disadvantaged for decades. They have to play according to the general rules and fear for their license and therefore their existence if management is bad. Schalke has made a financial mistake, Hamburger SV, also Hertha BSC, and Kaiserslautern before that some time ago; the series could be continued. These clubs were punished sportingly for their bad decisions. Now they are trying to crawl back up with limited resources. Your fans suffer and despair because they know: We are constantly chasing after them.
A lot of money and apparently impossible to get off
Nobody has ever been relegated from the corporate clubs. They come and stay, occupying the available places in the league and thus pushing the other clubs down. If you fail, you just have to add more money and carry on. The distorters of competition obviously legitimize themselves through their mere presence. Leverkusen is the fall from grace, has been in the Bundesliga since 1979 and is supported by Bayer. Wolfsburg is cross-financed by Volkswagen and therefore also by the state of Lower Saxony. Leipzig is a puppet of Red Bull, benefits from DFL loopholes as well as several international branches and plays on its chest for advertising.
Leverkusen’s championship is a tainted title. Like the DFB Cup victory in 1993, Wolfsburg’s championship in 2009, Leipzig’s DFB Cup victories in 2022 and 2023. These also came about because the DFB and later the DFL protected a special model internally, while externally they presented themselves as a white knight with 50 plus 1 placed on the chest. Yes, it is pleasing that Bayern Munich’s streak of boredom has been ended by an impressive team. But the Bundesliga has died a little more.
Transparency note: Roland Peters is a member of 1. FC Köln.