2010/11 Season Review: Germany

May 30, 2011

Bundesliga

HSV repeated as champion of Germany’s top division. The story, though was the return of normalcy behind the Hamburg side: after a horrendous season, FC Bayern returns, finishing tied on points with Stuttgart and Werder Bremen behind the leaders. Of that group, Werder Bremen joins Hoffenheim and Dortmund in EURO Cup play, with the three top teams participating in the Champion’s League. At the other end, Kaiserslautern avoided relegation by a single point, meaning both newly promoted sides (the other was St. Pauli) will remain in the top division. Bochum and Mainz were not so lucky, and will spend next season toiling in the second rank of play.

Top Goalscorer: 20 Francesco Tavano (Schalke 04)
Top Rated Player: 7.88 Toni Kroos (FC Bayern)

Last year’s top goal scorer, Werder Bremen’s Claudio Pizarro, has started to show the effects of age, losing time to Hugo Almeida and Alejandro Dominguez, and only managing six goals on the leage season. Last year’s highest rated player, Dortmund’s veteran Brazilian defender Dede had another fine season.

German Second Division

Bielefeld and Cottbus, the top two finishers in the league, survived the playoff system to move up to the Bundesliga next season. Offenbach and Union Berlin were, to the misery of their faithful, relegated out of the Second Division.

Top Goalscorer: 28 Giovanni Federico (Bielefeld)
Top Rated Player: 7.81 Simon Pouplin (SC Freiburg)

2010/11 UEFA Cup Group Draw

August 26, 2010

With the qualifying games coming to a close, the draw for the UEFA Cup was finalized earlier today in a ceremony filled with all the pomp and circumstance it deserved. And then some. The sequins are being swept up, the balloons popped, and all that is left is for the pundits to pontificate.

Here are the groups:

Group A: Arsenal, AS Roma, Olympiakos SF Piraeus, Rubin Kazan

Group B: AFC Ajax, FC Internazionale, FK Partizan Beograd, Tottenham Hotspur

Group C: FC Barcelona, Hamburger SV, RSC Anderlecht, BSC Young Boys

Group D: Olympique Lyonnais, Futebol Clube do Porto-SAD, Athletic Club, Hapoel Tel-Aviv

Group E: Real Madrid, Fenerbahçe, Paris Saint-Germain, Genoa

Group F: Sporting CP, PSV, Chelsea, Spartak Moscow

Group G: Werder Bremen, Juventus, Rangers, FC Universitatea Craiova

Group H: Shakhtar, Olympique Marseilles, Everton, Sparta Prague

This competition looks ripe for upsets, with only one group—Barcelona’s Group C—looking like a cakewalk for the favorites. If there is a group of death, it is most likely Group F, where Chelsea has the edge, but none of the other three teams are pushovers.

2009/10 Season Review: Germany

May 30, 2010

With Fürth holding off Osnabrück 2-1 this evening, the German domestic leagues come to a close for the 1009/1010 season.

Bundesliga

The German First Division offered what must be considered the shock of the European season, as perennial champion FC Bayern proved to be a little less than a .500 team this year, managing only 10 wins in 34 games. The quality of the Bayern players is beyond doubt putting head coach Louis van Gaal under intense pressure for the upcoming season. It’s hard to overstate how surprising of a result this was: it was only the third time in twenty-five years Bayern had not finished in the top three of the league, let alone completely missed European football.

HSV edged Werder Bremen for the top spot in the league, and will be joined by Hoffenheim in the top flight of European football next season. Köln, Frankfurt, and Stuttgart will play in the EURO Cup while Gladbach and Freiburg face relegation.

Top Goalscorer: 23 Claudio Pizarro (Werder Bremen)
Top Rated Player: 7.70 Dede (Borussia Dortmund)

German Second Division

The battle at the top was intense, with only two points separating first from fifth place. St. Pauli emerged as the champions and Kaiserslautern joins them in promotion solely on the basis of a three goal edge in differential over 1860 München. At the other end, Düsseldorf and Ahlen face relegation for the upcoming season.

Top Goalscorer: 26 Gergely Rudolf (Fürth)
Top Rated Player: 8.00 Adam Banas (St. Pauli)

Louis van Gall, Bayern's under-fire manager after the worst season in decades for the perennial German power.

Peruvian international Claudio Pizarro, leading scorer of the German First Division for Werder Bremen.

The strong play of Polish defender Adam Banas helped St. Pauli achieve promotion.