Bundesliga: Leverkusen First Unbeaten Champions
2024 Bundesliga Roundup: Standings, Awards and More
Bayern Munich’s Reign Over
The 2023-24 Bundesliga campaign was unforgettable, as history was made left and right. Bayer Leverkusen’s unbeaten season may take decades to replicate as Xabi Alonso’s side won their first-ever title. Leverkusen ended Bayern Munich’s 11-year reign atop the Bundesliga and broke plenty of records in the process. While Leverkusen stole the headlines, there’s plenty of other stories to discuss in our 2024 Bundesliga Roundup. Stay tuned as we cover the final table, season awards and more.
Leverkusen’s Invincible Campaign a Team Effort
Bayer Leverkusen had just one blemish on an otherwise incredible campaign. The first-time Bundesliga champions lost in the Europa League Final last week to Atalanta but went unbeaten domestically. Bayer Leverkusen set the record for most matches unbeaten, in all competitions, since the introduction of UEFA competitions. The Leverkusen standings show they went 28-6-0 in the Bundesliga and they were unbeaten for 51 matches until losing to Atalanta.
Leverkusen also became the first team to complete an unbeaten domestic double, as they also won the DFB-Pokal last Saturday. In a move that could keep the Bundesliga competitive, title-winning coach Xabi Alonso announced his intention to stay for another season. Bundesliga Player of the Season Florian Wirtz could also follow suit. While Wirtz was the biggest standout, Leverkusen’s title charge was truly a team effort.
Goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky kept the most clean sheets in the league. Jonathan Tah and Edmond Tapsoba were superb at the back and wingbacks Jeremie Frimpong and Alex Grimaldo caused all sorts of problems for opponents. Granit Xhaka was an unsung hero in midfield as he, Exequiel Palacios and Robert Andrich had their moments. Victor Boniface led Leverkusen in goals despite missing a bunch of time with an injury.
The world will be waiting to see if Leverkusen can sustain their success and challenge Bayern Munich for the title next season.
Multiple Surprises in Top Half of Bundesliga Standings
We would like to stress in our 2024 Bundesliga Roundup that there were plenty of noteworthy stories in German soccer this season. Stuttgart barely survived the drop last season, as they had to take on Hamburg in a relegation playoff. This time around, Sebastian Hoene and Stuttgart managed a remarkable campaign, where they finished in second place in the German Bundesliga standings. Serhou Guirassy was superb, as the Guinean international scored 28 times.
Deniz Undav also scored 18 goals and provided 10 assists and we’re looking forward to seeing this dynamic duo in the Champions League. Due to German clubs’ success in European competitions, the Bundesliga received an extra Champions League slot. That number will increase to six if Borussia Dortmund defeat Real Madrid in Saturday’s UEFA Champions League Final.
Currently, the other Champions League clubs are Bayern Munich (3rd), RB Leipzig (4th) and Borussia Dortmund (5th). Third place is Bayern’s lowest finish since the 2010-11 season and they were on an 11 title streak before this season. Harry Kane had the Bundesliga’s most prolific debut campaign ever though, with 36 goals.
Dortmund were a bit underwhelming in the league but their run to the UCL Final has been nothing short of sensational. Naturally, Marco Reus scored in his last match as a Dortmund player. Eintracht Frankfurt (6th) will be in next season’s Europa League unless Dortmund win the UCL. Hoffenheim (7th) will play in the Europa League no matter what and Heidenheim (8th) were one of the Bundesliga’s biggest surprises.
Coach Frank Schmidt has been with the Bundesliga debutants since they were a fourth tier club. Now, he’ll coach Heidenheim in the UEFA Europa Conference League. Meanwhile, Werder Bremen (9th) just missed out on a European spot.
Final Day Relegation Drama
Heading into the final day of the Bundesliga, VfL Bochum were in 14th place, three points ahead of 16th-placed Union Berlin and one point ahead of 15th-placed Mainz. Union Berlin proceeded to score a 90th minute winner vs. Freiburg and Mainz stayed unbeaten for a ninth straight match when they defeated Wolfsburg 3-1. With VfL Bochum’s 4-1 loss to Werder Bremen, Bochum finished the day in 16th. While Köln (17th) and Darmstadt (18th) will automatically go down to the 2. Bundesliga, Bochum look likely to follow.
Bochum lost the first leg of the relegation playoff 3-0 to 2. Bundesliga side Fortuna Dusseldorf. Union, who started the campaign in the Champions League, sealed their safety with their last minute win over Freiburg and finished in 15th. Meanwhile, Mainz (13th) finished ahead of Borussia Monchengladbach (14th), who didn’t win any of their final six matches of the season.
Wolfsburg couldn’t replicate last season’s top half finish and ended the campaign in 12th. Meanwhile, Augsburg were in the European picture all season long until they dropped their last five matches of the season to finish in 11th, still just three points off of a European berth. Christian Streich helped Freiburg qualify for European competitions four times in his 12-year stint as coach but couldn’t pull it off in 2023-24. Freiburg finished in 10th in his last season as coach.
Bundesliga Awards
Harry Kane’s title curse continues but he added a couple of individual accolades to his trophy cabinet this season. In his first season at Bayern Munich since joining from Tottenham, Kane scored 36 goals to win the Golden Boot and European Golden Shoe. The English international striker was only five goals off of Robert Lewandowski’s 41-goal single season Bundesliga record.
Our 2024 Bundesliga Roundup also notes Bayer Leverkusen’s Alex Grimaldo led the league, with 13 assists. The left wing back also scored 10 goals in an incredible debut campaign. His teammate, Victor Boniface, was the Bundesliga’s rookie of the season. The 23-year old hit the ground running after joining from Union Saint-Gilloise last Summer. Boniface scored 10 goals in the first 16 matches of the season before a muscle tendon injury kept him out for over three months.
Leverkusen’s Lukas Hradecky conceded just 24 times in 33 starts and deservedly gets the Bundesliga’s Golden Glove. The Finnish keeper, who has been with Bayer Leverkusen since 2018, captained his side to the Bundesliga title. Bayer Leverkusen attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz will cost well over $100 million when he decides to leave Bayer Leverkusen and he was named the Bundesliga’s Player of the Season.
Still just 21 years old, Wirtz’s creativity, vision and passing unlock opposing teams’ defenses and he was Bayer Leverkusen’s most indispensable player this season. He both scored and assisted 11 times this season.
Sneak Peek at 2024-25
It’ll be incredibly hard for next season’s action to top the 2023-24 season and Leverkusen are already underdogs to win back-to-back titles. Bayern Munich sit at -200 early outright odds to win the title while Leverkusen come in at +275. Still, Leverkusen did enter last season as +5000 longshots and if they can keep their core together, they’ve certainly got a fighting chance.
