Bundesliga Mid Season Roundup

Table of Surprises

Despite the parity inherent in a league as fiscally responsible and deep as the Bundesliga, few would have predicted the sheer unpredictability of the season so far. Unheralded Mainz galloped to an early lead with seven straight wins, built on some eye catching attacking football, before Borussia Dortmund hauled them in to lead by 12 points at the break. Former champions Stuttgart have been unable to escape the drop zone all season, while another giant Schalke, barely escaped the mire to sit in 11th. Elsewhere, Werder Bremen and 2009 winners Wolfsburg have been unable to get out of second gear and hover tentatively above the relegation spots. Defending champions Bayern Munich themselves started so badly, that club supremo Franz Beckenbauer dismissed the title altogether. Things are much better at tiny Freiburg who have been top six all season and Hannover who are in fourth.

Wolfsburg cash Dzeko in

Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko was always highly rated with size, speed, youth and an impressive strike rate of 66 goals in 111 games for the team from the Volkswagen Arena. However €32 million for the 24 year old giant was a price tag beyond belief and Wolfsburg promptly cashed in. Outside the golden arched Bavarian headquarters of Bayern Munich (sic), players rarely come and go for sums even close to that figure, so the incoming funds from Dzeko’s sale will have a healthy knock-on effect in the division. A healthy financial tonic for Die Wolfe as well as the division in general, some of the proceeds have already gone into bolstering Wolfsburg’s faltering campaign with some impressive signings. Who knows how successful Dzeko will be at his new club Manchester City, but his transfer money is more than welcome to the financial purse strings of the German Bundesliga.

Have you heard of them?

Whether it’s Freiburg striker Papiss Demba Cisse or Hannover’s Didier Ya Konan, Dortmund’s Japanese forward Shinji Kagawa or Kaiserslautern’s Srdjan Lakic, the 2010-11 top division is littered with new players making a name for themselves. Four of the top eight goal-scorers are players with limited Bundesliga first team experience and the rest are hardly house hold names (Theofanis Gekas anyone?). Mainz’s triumvirate of young stars in Andre Schurrle, Lewis Holtby and Adam Szalai continue to sparkle, as does Bayer Leverkusen’s young versatile Chilean Arturo Vidal. Dortmund are reaping the benefits of having Kagawa dovetail to some effect with World Cup quarterfinalist Lucas Barrios from Paraguay, another young gun in only his second season in Germany. At the back defenders like Stefan Reinartz (Leverkusen), Sven Bender (Dortmund) and Konstantin Rausch (Hannover) are all ever present pillars despite not yet being 23.

Bright German Future

After impressing at the 2010 World Cup, several German youngsters caught the eye of the footballing world. Some, like Sami Khedira and Mesut Oezil have already departed for distant shores while others, like Thomas Muller, Manuel Neuer and Rene Adler are safely tucked in at home. Ominously however, yet more German players are arriving on the scene with performances that are equal parts breathtaking and composed. In addition to the aforementioned trio of Bender, Rausch and Reinartz, Kaiserslautern’s Christian Tiffert (topping the league assists table with nine helpers), Monchengladbach’s Marco Reus and Dortmund’s Mario Gotz are setting the division alight, bringing creativity and big match presence in spades. With established players like Lukas Podolski, Per Mertesacker and Bastian Schweinsteiger, all still 26 and younger, the health of German football has never been better. Spain has its work cut out in retaining continental bragging rights as a fresh wave of German players engage an increasingly competitive domestic league.

Return of Parity

If the season continues the way it has and finishes with the current standings, we would have had a third different winner in three years and a fourth different champion in five years. Compared to most leagues around Europe, that is indeed an expression of that most sought after indication of league’s competitiveness – parity. Borussia Dortmund, the current runaway leaders, statistically need only eight more wins to achieve a title winning total and it would be a first win for them since 2002. If Bayer Leverkusen continues to hold on to second place, the Bundesliga would have had six different runners up in the past decade. All in all the performances of Mainz, Hannover and Freiburg are healthy indicators that the financial rules put in place by the German Federation are helping achieve a more interesting product that makes for compelling entertainment. Although foreign players abound, the core of most teams are built around local players promoted from the youth and reserve sides.