Winners & Losers 2008/2009: Germany

Our look at the Winners and Losers from 2008/2009 across Europe’s major leagues continues now on Just-Football. Part 1 assessed the English Premier League, Part 2 Le Championnat in France. Next up, Deutschland.

WINNERS

Vfl Wolfsburg

71 years after the city of Wolfsburg was founded in order to house autoworkers building the now famous Volkswagen Beetle (the town was originally named ‘KDF-Car City’), Vfl Wolfsburg were crowned champions of Germany for the first time in Bundesliga history. This was a formidable achievement; Wolfsburg are traditionally considered a mid-table club at best, and in the two seasons before manager Felix Magath’s arrival in 2007 the Wolves finished 15th, one place above the relegation zone.

A title winner at Bayern Munich, Magath oversaw a rapid change of fortunes in Lower Saxony. His first season in charge ended with Wolfsburg in 5th – their highest ever league finish. One year later of course, the Green and Whites trumped this completely by going all the way to the top. A strict disciplinarian with a fitness regime so challenging it wouldn’t seem out of place on a military compound, Magath (nicknamed “Quälix” by his players – which can be roughly translated as ‘the torturer’) transformed Wolfsburg’s mediocre squad into a group of lean, highly conditioned athletes at the peak of physical fitness.

Not only that, but he also got them playing. And boy, can they play. Wolfsburg’s non-stop, high intensity, all-out attacking style of play took the Bundesliga by storm, creating new stars in the process. Averaging 3 goals every home game, Wolfsburg won virtually a third of all league games by a three goal margin. In one of the most memorable games in recent Bundesliga history, they smashed Bayern Munich 5-1. And in their final three matches, when it was thought the pressure of involvement in a title race would get the better of them, they trashed Dortmund 3-0, Hannover 5-0 away and, to clinch the title, Werder Bremen 5-1. Bashing in 80 goals in a 34 game season is really quite brilliant.

7th at the winter break, Wolfsburg won 10 successive games after Christmas, equalling the league record. This run, inspired by the Brazil/Bosnia alliance of Grafite (28 goals) and Edin Dzeko (26 goals) was key in shooting Wolfsburg to the title. Next season, Champions League football awaits.

1899 Hoffenheim

Some people might take the view that 1899 Hoffenheim should in fact be placed into the Losers category for 2008/2009. (If you are one of them, let us know why). After all, post-winter break the nouveaux-rich club, whose rapid rise to prominence split more opinion than Ernest Rutherford split atoms, only won 3 of their last 16 league games. A handsome fall from grace to be sure, but I remain of the opinion that, all things considered, 08/09 can go down as a pretty successful for season for Dietmar Hopp, Ralf Rangnick and all involved with the Hoffe.

To even be in the position to associate with the likes of Bayern Munich, let alone realistically describe them as direct rivals, really illustrates just how far Hoffenheim have come. Once upon a time, not too long ago, Hoffenheim were basking in regional league obscurity. Now they dine with German football’s elite. For a village with a population of 3,200 that isn’t bad.

After a thrilling start to their first ever Bundesliga season, 1899 Hoffenheim went into the winter break top of the table. Not only did they shoot their way to the top, but they did it with class. The style of play employed by Rangnick’s team endeared themselves to football purists around the country, winning them a whole host of new admirers (and supporters) in the process. Their one-touch, attacking football, performed by relative unknowns like Demba Ba, Vedad Ibisevic and Carlos Eduardo took the league by storm and over Christmas debate raged over whether Hoffe could go all the way.

But those winter months off changed everything. Leading goalscorer Ibisevic tore a cruciate ligament, ruling him out for the season. Carlos Eduardo was suspended for fighting. Players began to believe their own hype. Cue a woeful run of 12 games without a win and the dream was over for the team that Hopp built. Given the anticlimactic end some might consider 1899 Hoffenheim’s season a disappointment. All things taken into account however, finishing 7th was a superb achievement.

VfB Stuttgart

Stuttgart’s season turned out quite well in the end. A miserable start, a winter championship that saw Die Schwaben lose 6 out of 18 games and the sacking of Armin Veh all appeared to point towards a disastrous season in the offing for the Southern German outfit. Mid-table seemed a likely final destination. However, the arrival of alumni defender Markus Babbel as manager brought about a drastic change of fortunes for Stuttgart, and the ensuing upturn took the club all the way to a third place finish. With that, Champions League football in 09/10.

LOSERS

Bayern Munich

Unfortunately for Bayern Munich they are seen as losers in
any season which does not end up with them as champions. It is in itself a testament to the very size and stature of the club. But although they finished second this was a season of turmoil for Bayern, and one in which Juergen Klinsmann wiped away the glowing sheen of his managerial potential with repeated displays of incompetence.

It always appeared a rather odd union, Klinsmann and Bayern Munich. They didn’t exactly share the best relationship when the former German national team coach played there, and the coming together of Klinsi’s California sun-tanned, fresh-thinking modernity with Bayern’s old-fashioned, hierarchical tradition was always going to be a particularly spicy clash of philosophies. In the end the old guard won the day, aided by the weight of Klinsmann’s own ineptitude and some embarrassing results (the hammerings in Barcelona and Wolfsburg to name but two). When your own general manager openly slates your transfer policies you know the game is up.

Despite all this Bayern could still feasibly have won the league on the last day of the season. Seven league defeats and a second place finish however is not good enough for the Bavarian giants.

Schalke 04

Before the 2008/2009 season started talk emanating from Gelsenkirchen was about Schalke winning the title. Then in mid-season, when it became abundatly clear that Fred Rutten’s team had no chance of such a lofty aim, attention turned towards securing a Champions League place, then, latterly, a UEFA Cup berth. ‘The DFB Cup is the easiest way into Europe and we have a real chance of winning it,’ Rutten claimed on the eve of their quarter-final clash with 2nd division Mainz. No such luck. Schalke lost. And so as the curtain came down on 08/09 Schalke, in the famous words of Anne Robinson, leave with nothing.

It was not a year to remember for The Royal Blues. Finishing eight represents a poor return for such a big club, and the campaign was one littered with defeats – 12 of them in the league. Schalke even made a complete pig’s ear of the Ruhr derby, throwing away a 3-0 lead against their great rivals Borussia Dortmund to draw 3-3. After Rutten’s sacking back in March the season was only ever going to fizzle out, which it duly did with Schalke losing 4 of their last 5 games. As it turned out, a below-par strike rate was their chief undoing. Though Kevin Kuranyi grabbed 14 league goals, an overall tally of 47 was not enough to fire the club to higher heights. Foundations however were good. Schalke boasted the best defensive record in the league. Something, perhaps, for Felix Magath to build on when he takes over as new head coach in the summer. At least the players will be in shape.

Karlsruhe SC

This year Karlsruhe became the latest unfortunate victims of that most common affliction for overachieving promoted clubs – second season syndrome. Hugely impressive in 2007/2008, their first season after promotion from the second division, Edmund Becker’s side could do nothing to sustain the form that saw KSC finish 11th last year. An awful run of 2 wins from 16 games between December 2008 and May 2009 ultimately did all the damage, and two wins from their last two games (including a 4-0 thrashing of Hertha Berlin) did nothing to stop Karlsruhe from being relegated. Particularly galling for their fans because in 07/08 Karlsruhe played with the sort of diligence and tactical discipline to suggest they could be sticking around in the Bundesliga for some time.

Next up in our Winners & Losers 08/09 series – Holland

1899 Hoffenheim, Bayern Munich, Europe, German Bundesliga, German Football, Germany, Juergen Klinsmann, Karlsruhe, Schalke 04, VfB Stuttgart, Vfl Wolfsburg