This was clearly an impressive year for Dortmund, taking the title in style after a slow start. With impressive attacking football on display, they were clearly the best team. Their victory is probably also good for German football in general, as they are now rising to challenge Bayern, although they still have a way to go financially. Bayern MŸnchen was in fact quite decent, impressive at times. And of course they can still claim victory by winning the Champions League (and to a lesser extent by defeating Dortmund in the DFB-Cup final). Schalke had a fine season, probably playing to their potential. TheyÕre still lacking some steel to challenge Dortmund and Bayern. But they appear to be on the right path. Gladbach had a wonderful season, but you wonder whether they can repeat next season. Leverkusen and Stuttgart had OK finishes, but looked crap at times.One might have expected them to challenge, but they were nowhere near that level. Werder Bremen has really fallen off and one has to wonder whether theyÕre on theyÕre way back to mediocrity.
For the bottom teams, Augsburg was the most impressive, as everybody considered them automatic relegation fodder, but they fought and punched above their weight to stay up. Both Mainz and Freiburg were also candidates, but showed grit and determination. Kaiserslautern was found to be too weak, and Kšln was a disaster, despite Likas PodolskiÕs best efforts. Hertha once again proved their management incompetant, as they fired coach Markus Babbel prematurely and almost got themselves relegated. (Still could happen if they lose against DŸsselfdorf. Losing would be good for the game, perhaps the relegation would force some needed changes in Berlin). However, if they save themselves it will be because Kšln was such a mess, not because of anything they (or Rehagel) did. Another dishonrable mention goes to Hamburger SV, which should be a power, but had their worst Bundesliga season ever.
2.Liga
Some interesting things happened in the 2.Liga. Eintracht Frankfurt was solid and earned immediate re-promotion to the Bundesliga. No real surprise there. Greuther FŸrth has toyed with the idea for years, but always choked. This season they put everything together and deservedly go up. DŸsseldorf was the pace setter for much of the season, but then fell off. They could still succeed if they upend Hertha in the playoffs. Fortuna has recovered from years in the wilderness, so this is definitely a positive trend. St.Pauli was strong all season, but lacked that little extra to put themselves over the top. Paderborn had perhaps their best season ever, and was in contention until the final day.
The rest of the news in the 2.Liga was mostly negative. Traditionals like 1860, Bochum and MSV Duisburg largely sucked. Karlsruhe and Aachen totally collapsed and got stuck in relegation. (KSC at least will be favoured to survive the playoff against Regensburg). The ex-GDR clubs were very disappointing. Hansa got relegated, and Cottbus and Aue were nervous until the final day. Aue was clearly punching above their weight last season, so at least their collapse was no surprise. However Energie might have harbored some thoughts of at least challenging, as theyÕve gone up a couple of times. Instead they largely sucked. At least Union Berlin was decent, and Dynamo DresdenÕs mid-table finish was positive. With Kšln and Kaiserslautern coming down, at least a couple of attractive dates are on the schedule for next season, albeit balanced by Sandhausen and Aalen.
3.Liga
The third division turned out to be the most competitive of all. Notice that virtually every team had double-digit drawn matches, and promoted sides had double-digit losses. Sandhausen and Aalen surprised the pundits and gained relegation. Neither team was overly impressive, but they ground out results when they needed. Regensburg withstood a fierce battle to hold onto the promotion playoff spot. Disappointment for traditional sides like OsnabrŸck, Offenbach and SaarbrŸcken, who never really got into the race. Bielefeld never got started, but at least recovered from a horrible start to prevent disaster. Oberhausen cointinued their collapse getting relegated for second straight year. Jena was crap and deservedly went down. Normally I donÕt care about the ÒBÓ sides, but Werder Bremen II reflects the chaos from the Bundesliga side. ItÕs the first time in some 40 years that they wonÕt be represented in the 3rd divisionÉHowever the outlook for the league is quite nice: Aachen, Rostock and potentially Karlsruhe are very attractive draws for next season, Stuttgarter Kickers should create some interest as well. And one of Halle, Kiel or RB Leipzig should be coming up as well, all with decent attendance.
BUNDESLIGA 1 Borussia Dortmund (M) 34 25 6 3 80:25 +55 81 2 Bayern MŸnchen 34 23 4 7 77:22 +55 73 3 FC Schalke 04 (P) 34 20 4 10 74:44 +30 64 4 Borussia M'gladbach 34 17 9 8 49:24 +25 60 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 Bayer Leverkusen 34 15 9 10 52:44 +8 54 6 VfB Stuttgart 34 15 8 11 63:46 +17 53 7 Hannover 96 34 12 12 10 41:45 -4 48 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 8 VfL Wolfsburg 34 13 5 16 47:60 -13 44 9 Werder Bremen 34 11 9 14 49:58 -9 42 10 1. FC NŸrnberg 34 12 6 16 38:49 -11 42 11 1899 Hoffenheim 34 10 11 13 41:47 -6 41 12 SC Freiburg 34 10 10 14 45:61 -16 40 13 1. FSV Mainz 05 34 9 12 13 47:51 -4 39 14 FC Augsburg (N) 34 8 14 12 36:49 -13 38 15 Hamburger SV 34 8 12 14 35:57 -22 36 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 16 Hertha BSC Berlin (N) 34 7 10 17 38:64 -26 31 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 17 1. FC Kšln 34 8 6 20 39:75 -36 30 18 1. FC Kaiserslautern 34 4 11 19 24:54 -30 23 2.LIGA 1 SpVgg Greuther FŸrth 34 20 10 4 73:27 +46 70 2 Eintracht Frankfurt (A) 34 20 8 6 76:33 +43 68 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 Fortuna DŸsseldorf 34 16 14 4 64:35 +29 62 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 FC St. Pauli (A) 34 18 8 8 59:34 +25 62 5 SC Paderborn 07 34 17 10 7 51:42 +9 61 6 1860 MŸnchen 34 17 6 11 62:46 +16 57 7 1. FC Union Berlin 34 14 6 14 55:58 -3 48 8 Eintracht Braunschweig (N) 34 10 15 9 37:35 +2 45 9 Dynamo Dresden (N) 34 12 9 13 50:52 -2 45 10 MSV Duisburg 34 10 9 15 42:47 -5 39 11 VfL Bochum 34 10 7 17 41:55 -14 37 12 FC Ingolstadt 04 34 8 13 13 43:58 -15 37 13 FSV Frankfurt 34 7 14 13 43:59 -16 35 14 Energie Cottbus 34 8 11 15 30:49 -19 35 15 Erzgebirge Aue 34 8 11 15 31:55 -24 35 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 16 Karlsruher SC 34 9 6 19 34:60 -26 33 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 17 Alemannia Aachen 34 6 13 15 30:47 -17 31 18 Hansa Rostock (N) 34 5 12 17 34:63 -29 27 3.LIGA 1 SV Sandhausen 38 19 9 10 57:42 +15 66 2 VfR Aalen 38 18 10 10 50:42 +8 64 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 Jahn Regensburg 38 16 13 9 55:41 +14 61 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 1. FC Heidenheim 38 16 12 10 48:36 +12 60 5 Rot-Wei§ Erfurt 38 15 14 9 54:41 +13 59 6 Wacker Burghausen 38 13 18 7 55:47 +8 57 7 VfL OsnabrŸck (A) 38 14 13 11 46:35 +11 55 8 Kickers Offenbach 38 15 10 13 49:41 +8 55 9 Chemnitzer FC (N) 38 15 10 13 47:43 +4 55 10 1. FC SaarbrŸcken 38 13 15 10 61:51 +10 54 11 VfB Stuttgart II 38 12 14 12 44:47 -3 50 12 Preu§en MŸnster (N) 38 12 14 12 40:44 -4 50 13 Arminia Bielefeld (A) 38 12 14 12 51:57 -6 50 14 SV Darmstadt 98 (N) 38 12 13 13 51:47 +4 49 15 SpVgg Unterhaching 38 12 8 18 63:59 +4 44 16 SV Wehen Wiesbaden 38 10 14 14 40:48 -8 44 17 SV Babelsberg 03 38 11 11 16 44:59 -15 44 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 18 Carl Zeiss Jena 38 9 12 17 39:59 -20 39 19 Rot-Wei§ Oberhausen (A) 38 8 14 16 33:47 -14 38 20 Werder Bremen II 38 4 10 24 29:70 -41 22