Feature Story: The Untold Stories Of The Bundesliga

Even before the 54th Bundesliga season officially rolls the curtains down – that will only happen after the relegation play-off match later this month – the main stories are quickly told.

Bayern Munich are champions for the fifth time in a row and the 27th-time overall, Borussia Dortmund and first-timers RB Leipzig and Hoffenheim qualified for the Champions League.

Ingolstadt and Darmstadt once again gave credence to the old football saying that the second season in the top flight is the most difficult one as both teams were relegated two years after gaining promotion.

Robert Lewandowski and Pierre Emerick Aubameyang were involved in a tussle for the scorer crown that went down to the wire and – surprise – surprise – Manuel Neuer was the goalkeeper with the most clean sheets.

But those are, of course, only the headlines and the stories behind the stories are what make the Bundesliga one of the most popular leagues in the world.

The main story behind the story, so to say, was of course RB Leipzig. Seven years ago the Bundesliga rookies from eastern Germany were still facing teams like Auerbach and Budissa Bautzen in the fifth tier of German football.

After gaining promotion to the Bundesliga for the first time in their history at the end of the last season, they strengthened their squad with a number of players, including Naby Keita, who was signed from Red Bull Salzburg and VfB Stuttgart's Timo Werner.

Together with Norwegian Yussuf Poulsen and Swede Emil Forsberg, they were the stand-out players in a Leipzig side that took the league by storm.

Bayern faced the rookies in their second last game of the season, coming back from 4-2 with six minutes to go to beat the rookies 5-4 in one of the most exciting Bundesliga games of all-time.

African fans of German football would not be surprised at such high-scoring games, as the Bundesliga has produced more goals per game than the three other major European leagues (England, Spain and Italy) for the last 25 years.

Afterwards, Bayern coach Carlo Ancelotti praised Leipzig. "They were fantastic opponents this season and played surprisingly well. For them, this is only the start of a great period. They have young players, who are very motivated and playing in the Champions League next season will be a great experience."

Younger than his players
Leipzig's performance has been so outstanding, that Hoffenheim's story has gone virtually unnoticed.

In February of last year, when the club were in 17th position – five points from safety - and staring relegation in the eyes, they went were no other top flight club before had dared to go: They entrusted the job of coaching the side to a manager who was younger than several of the players he coached.

Julian Nagelsmann's, 28, took to coaching a Bundesliga club like the proverbial duck in the water, taking them to safety.

But it got even better this season, as they were undefeated for the entire first round, finally stumbling at the 18th hurdle when Leipzig beat them 2-1. They were rewarded for their efforts with a place in the Champions League.

Borussia Dortmund's season somewhat unraveled after an attack on their team bus as they were heading to their first-leg Champions League quarter-final match against Monaco.

Although their results were not all bad, even though they were knocked out by Monaco after the shock of the attack, the horrors the players and coaching staff had to go through left some scars.

These in turn resulted in an unprecedented rift between CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke and coach Thomas Tuchel, which might be beyond repairing, even if they beat Frankfurt in the cup final in Berlin on May 27.

For Bayern Munich the season began promising and fans were dreaming of a repeat of the 2012/3 season, when the club from the Bavarian capital famously won the coveted treble.

But it was not to be, as they fell foul of Dortmund in the domestic cup and were beaten in the quarter-finals of the Champions League by Cristiano Ronaldo (with a little help from his Real Madrid team-mates).

All the Bundesliga matches were shown live throughout Africa by StarTimes and the Sports Director of the StarTimes Media Division, Cole He Xin, said that the Bundesliga has the second highest attendance of professional sports leagues world wide – second only to the NFL.

“Unlike clubs throughout the rest of Europe, Bundesliga teams are not known to make huge debts. The average debt of Bundesliga clubs in just 7.9 million euros, while it is 89 million euros in the Premier League.

“But fans just love the Bundesliga because it is so exciting and as a result the broadcasts prove so popular.

“Where else can you watch games like Bayern Munich scoring a fifth-minute injury time goal against RB Leipzig in a pulsating 5-4 away victory, or Gabonese international Pierre Emmerick Aubameyang hitting the back of the net four times in Dortmund's 5-2 win in Hamburg.”

Bundesliga Legends
It is also not surprising then, that the history of the Bundesliga is filled with African players, who have become legends. StarTimes and the German Football League (DFL) organised a Bundesliga Legends Tour to give African fans an opportunity to meet some of these players.

“The Bundesliga Legends Tour is a continuation of the journey that was started two years ago when StarTimes signed the exclusive broadcast right of the Bundesliga throughout sub-Saharan Africa,” said StarTimes Public Relations Director, Mr. William Masy. “This partnership between StarTimes and The Bundesliga is not a coincidence, we have the same philosophy, affordability; we both want to ensure that everybody is able to enjoy what we do.”

As part of the tour, former Bundesliga stars Jay Jay Okocha and Sunday Oliseh travelled to Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya. There they interacted with fans and journalists, giving them the opportunity to not only learn about the Bundesliga, but also to improve their own footballing skills.

Former Eintracht Frankfurt star Okocha said he was thrilled to be involved in such a program. “It means a lot to me, because the Bundesliga is a league that made me and promoted me. And StarTimes is bringing the league to our people at an affordable rate.”

The former Nigerian international, who like Oliseh won Olympic gold with Nigeria in 1996, said he felt the Bundesliga did not always have the standing it deserved. “For me, it is all about the German league focusing more on team work than individual players. The Bundesliga believes in team achievement more so than individuals.

“They have the best youth development program in Europe and that is why you have had such a successful development of German football in recent years. Remember they are the world champions. All but two of the 23 players in the squad at the World Cup came out of the Bundesliga youth academies,” Okocha said.

Bundesliga clubs have invested more than 1 billion euros in development since 2002 and this has not only resulted in the highest number of home grown players in the league – compared to the four other major leagues, it has also resulted in the average age of Bundesliga player currently being lower than those of the other major leagues.

A number of excellent talented players have emerged, with Werner, Julian Brandt, Christian Pulisicand Jonathan Tah being just some of them.

Oliseh visited Nairobi, where he conducted coaching clinics, later saying that some of the youngsters he worked with had “immense” talent.

The defender was an African championship winner with the Super Eagles in 1994 and won the Bundesliga with Borussia Dortmund in 2001/2.

“The last Legends Tour was a huge success; we got a lot of positive feedback everywhere we went. So, to please African football fans, the Bundesliga and StarTimes plan to organize another one after the next season begins,” announced William Masy.

StarTimes
StarTimes is the leading digital-TV operator in Africa, serving nearly 10 million subscribers and covering 90% of the continent's population with a massive distribution network of 200 brand halls, 3,000 convenience stores and 5,000 distributors. StarTimes owns a featured content platform, with 480 authorized channels consisting of news, movies, series, sports, entertainment, children's programs, fashion, religion etc.

The company's vision is "To enable every African family to afford and enjoy digital TV" StarTimes achieves this by combining satellite and terrestrial DTV systems to provide an open and secure digital wireless platform. The company provides a robust signal transmission service for public and private broadcasters, offers consumers outstanding Pay-TV programs, mobile multimedia, wireless Internet connectivity and convenient online services including checking TV guide; watching free live football ; chatting with celebrities and friends.