Serious observers have suggested Germany's top two clubs leave the league, but that would do more harm than good
Two club teams that can hold their own against the best in Europe, full stadiums, a renaissance for the Bundesliga brand abroad and a Nationalmannschaft that will go into next year's World Cup as one of the favourites: 2013 has been the best year for German football since Sky invented the game in the early 90s. But all this positivity isn't to the taste of everybody. It was only a matter of time before the Bedenkenträger crew – a group of professional doubters who excel at reading the writing the on the wall – started worrying again. They serve up good old Angst, albeit with a twist: after a decade of bemoaning the Bundesliga's poor showings in Europe, the complaint is now that a couple of clubs have become too good.
Felix Magath fired the opening salvo in an interview with Hamburger Morgenpost 10 days ago in which he suggested Germany's top two clubs should play in a European super league. Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund were so dominant that "they would have to be excluded from the national competition," he said. "A Europa-Liga would be more honest." First spot in the Bundesliga was "pre-awarded to Bayern", added the 60-year-old, and he worried that "clubs that continuously play in the Champions League have huge advantages". The former Bayern Munich keeper Oliver Kahn took up that baton and ran a bit further. While he acknowledged that there was no objective indication that the hegemony of Bayern and Dortmund was hurting the Bundesliga, he felt that Sepp Herberger's old mantra ("people go to the stadium because they don't know how the match will end") might not ring as true when Pep Guardiola's team go through 39 games without defeat. "In view of that and in recognition of the increasing convergence of Europe, it would be a logical consequence to introduce a Europa-Liga with 34 match days, on which the best 18 teams in Europe would meet," Kahn wrote in Bild.
Banning teams for being too good would be a novel idea. A Bundesliga without the big two would certainly be incredibly competitive and open up the title race to the likes of Gladbach, Hertha BSC, Schalke, while Leverkusen would probably finish second. But at what cost? "The Bundesliga would be the second division, they can't want that" said Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. As the head of the European Club Association, he was firmly against the idea, despite some pressure from foreign colleagues, he added. The Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke told ZDF Sportstudio on Saturday night that he "despaired about the nonsense that is being suggested". Even if Bayern and Dortmund were allowed to play both domestically and in a new super league, matches in the former would be automatically diminished. "The reserves would play there," he said. "We don't want to destroy our football culture".
Thankfully, Magath's and Kahn's harebrained ideas seem to have little backing. Most people understand that a lack of money cannot be helped by killing off your two golden geese or sending them into European exile. But there's an alternative, less radical proposal. The Eintracht Frankfurt boss Heribert Bruchhagen wants a more equitable distribution of the Champions League money. "The spread has become too big. In Europe, the championships are exclusively contested by those who regularly play in the Champions League," he said in an interview with Sportstudio. By way of explanation, he mentioned that Bayern's wage bill was about 50% higher than Hamburg's in 1992 but was now "400% higher" than that of the (sleeping) northern giants.
Bruchhagen has a point. The millions from Uefa do create an imbalance. The Bundesliga distributes domestic TV income by roughly employing a "factor 2" formula. The top team earn €33m (£27.3m), approximately double that of the last one, who earn €16m (£13.3m). Those relatively modest sums are put into the shade by the €65m and €54m Bayern and Dortmund respectively earned from doing well in Europe last season.
Watzke, however, thinks Bruchhagen's analysis is too simplistic. "If he was right, it would have been impossible for us to win the championship in 2011 after not competing in the Champions League for nine years," he said. "Frankfurt were relegated two years ago, now they're in the Europa League. That shows that there is permeability [at the top of the league]." Watzke added that he wasn't averse to the debate but argued that the "weak don't get strong by making the strong weaker". He argued that making Bayern and Dortmund less competitive by reducing their revenues would make them less competitive internationally and do more harm than good. Everyone benefitted from strong showings in Europe, he explained, due to the increase of the value of foreign TV rights. A perceived lack of domestic competitiveness has certainly not harmed the "product": the German Football League are on course to double international income from €70m to €150m-per-year after 2015. These numbers provide an interesting lesson. Globally, there's more interest in seeing two very strong teams than a more balanced league without sides that can realistically challenge in Europe. In other words, the appeal of a league is largely determined by the excellence of its elite.
This is a particularly strong argument in light of the restricted opportunities for growth domestically. The value of live rights continues to be depressed by the competition commission's ruling that highlights should be freely available and by there being no credible pay TV alternative to Sky Germany. (This season, the 36 teams in the top two divisions will make €560m, that figure will rise to €673m by 2016/17.)
The biggest argument in favour of the status quo is Dortmund's comeback though. They seemed to have blown their chance by squandering €150m from their IPO on players and teetered on the brink of bankruptcy eight years ago. In their absence, other teams won titles – Stuttgart, Wolfsburg – but other heavyweights like Schalke and Werder Bremen regressed while gross underachievement continued at clubs like Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hertha and Köln who should all benefit from a competitive advantage (size and wealth of city) in relation to the Black and Yellows but don't. Instead of dreaming up new ways to cut the top two down in size, Bruchhagen and his ilk would be better served analysing what Dortmund and Bayern have done right in recent years. Hiring the right managers would be a start.
• Talking points to follow
*Results:* Wolfsburg 1-1 Hamburg, Bayern Munich 2-0 Braunschweig, Hoffenheim 4-4 Werder, Mainz 1-3 Dortmund, Bayer 3-0 Nürnberg, Hertha 0-0 Augsburg, Schalke 3-0 Stuttgart, Hannover 2-0 Eintracht, Mönchengladbach 1-0 Freiburg
• Latest Bundesliga table Reported by guardian.co.uk 12 hours ago.
Two club teams that can hold their own against the best in Europe, full stadiums, a renaissance for the Bundesliga brand abroad and a Nationalmannschaft that will go into next year's World Cup as one of the favourites: 2013 has been the best year for German football since Sky invented the game in the early 90s. But all this positivity isn't to the taste of everybody. It was only a matter of time before the Bedenkenträger crew – a group of professional doubters who excel at reading the writing the on the wall – started worrying again. They serve up good old Angst, albeit with a twist: after a decade of bemoaning the Bundesliga's poor showings in Europe, the complaint is now that a couple of clubs have become too good.
Felix Magath fired the opening salvo in an interview with Hamburger Morgenpost 10 days ago in which he suggested Germany's top two clubs should play in a European super league. Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund were so dominant that "they would have to be excluded from the national competition," he said. "A Europa-Liga would be more honest." First spot in the Bundesliga was "pre-awarded to Bayern", added the 60-year-old, and he worried that "clubs that continuously play in the Champions League have huge advantages". The former Bayern Munich keeper Oliver Kahn took up that baton and ran a bit further. While he acknowledged that there was no objective indication that the hegemony of Bayern and Dortmund was hurting the Bundesliga, he felt that Sepp Herberger's old mantra ("people go to the stadium because they don't know how the match will end") might not ring as true when Pep Guardiola's team go through 39 games without defeat. "In view of that and in recognition of the increasing convergence of Europe, it would be a logical consequence to introduce a Europa-Liga with 34 match days, on which the best 18 teams in Europe would meet," Kahn wrote in Bild.
Banning teams for being too good would be a novel idea. A Bundesliga without the big two would certainly be incredibly competitive and open up the title race to the likes of Gladbach, Hertha BSC, Schalke, while Leverkusen would probably finish second. But at what cost? "The Bundesliga would be the second division, they can't want that" said Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. As the head of the European Club Association, he was firmly against the idea, despite some pressure from foreign colleagues, he added. The Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke told ZDF Sportstudio on Saturday night that he "despaired about the nonsense that is being suggested". Even if Bayern and Dortmund were allowed to play both domestically and in a new super league, matches in the former would be automatically diminished. "The reserves would play there," he said. "We don't want to destroy our football culture".
Thankfully, Magath's and Kahn's harebrained ideas seem to have little backing. Most people understand that a lack of money cannot be helped by killing off your two golden geese or sending them into European exile. But there's an alternative, less radical proposal. The Eintracht Frankfurt boss Heribert Bruchhagen wants a more equitable distribution of the Champions League money. "The spread has become too big. In Europe, the championships are exclusively contested by those who regularly play in the Champions League," he said in an interview with Sportstudio. By way of explanation, he mentioned that Bayern's wage bill was about 50% higher than Hamburg's in 1992 but was now "400% higher" than that of the (sleeping) northern giants.
Bruchhagen has a point. The millions from Uefa do create an imbalance. The Bundesliga distributes domestic TV income by roughly employing a "factor 2" formula. The top team earn €33m (£27.3m), approximately double that of the last one, who earn €16m (£13.3m). Those relatively modest sums are put into the shade by the €65m and €54m Bayern and Dortmund respectively earned from doing well in Europe last season.
Watzke, however, thinks Bruchhagen's analysis is too simplistic. "If he was right, it would have been impossible for us to win the championship in 2011 after not competing in the Champions League for nine years," he said. "Frankfurt were relegated two years ago, now they're in the Europa League. That shows that there is permeability [at the top of the league]." Watzke added that he wasn't averse to the debate but argued that the "weak don't get strong by making the strong weaker". He argued that making Bayern and Dortmund less competitive by reducing their revenues would make them less competitive internationally and do more harm than good. Everyone benefitted from strong showings in Europe, he explained, due to the increase of the value of foreign TV rights. A perceived lack of domestic competitiveness has certainly not harmed the "product": the German Football League are on course to double international income from €70m to €150m-per-year after 2015. These numbers provide an interesting lesson. Globally, there's more interest in seeing two very strong teams than a more balanced league without sides that can realistically challenge in Europe. In other words, the appeal of a league is largely determined by the excellence of its elite.
This is a particularly strong argument in light of the restricted opportunities for growth domestically. The value of live rights continues to be depressed by the competition commission's ruling that highlights should be freely available and by there being no credible pay TV alternative to Sky Germany. (This season, the 36 teams in the top two divisions will make €560m, that figure will rise to €673m by 2016/17.)
The biggest argument in favour of the status quo is Dortmund's comeback though. They seemed to have blown their chance by squandering €150m from their IPO on players and teetered on the brink of bankruptcy eight years ago. In their absence, other teams won titles – Stuttgart, Wolfsburg – but other heavyweights like Schalke and Werder Bremen regressed while gross underachievement continued at clubs like Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hertha and Köln who should all benefit from a competitive advantage (size and wealth of city) in relation to the Black and Yellows but don't. Instead of dreaming up new ways to cut the top two down in size, Bruchhagen and his ilk would be better served analysing what Dortmund and Bayern have done right in recent years. Hiring the right managers would be a start.
• Talking points to follow
*Results:* Wolfsburg 1-1 Hamburg, Bayern Munich 2-0 Braunschweig, Hoffenheim 4-4 Werder, Mainz 1-3 Dortmund, Bayer 3-0 Nürnberg, Hertha 0-0 Augsburg, Schalke 3-0 Stuttgart, Hannover 2-0 Eintracht, Mönchengladbach 1-0 Freiburg
• Latest Bundesliga table Reported by guardian.co.uk 12 hours ago.