Bayern Munich vs Bundesliga: The Battle for Equality

Bayern Munich is probably the oldest and the most recognised club in the entirety of Bundesliga. After winning the Bundesliga for a record 25 times and the DFB Polkal 17 times, one can’t ignore the dominance the Bavarian club has over the entire German football community. But is it healthy?

Over the past few years, one has seen talents rise and grow to prominence right within the very womb of Bundesliga. Smaller and bigger clubs alike produce talents. Most of these future superstars often die out, but some persevere their way to the top-notch level. But ultimately, the player ends up at Bayern Munich.

This leads to a mismatch of power. A league where every team knows their top player would leave for their opposition. The interest dies out after a period of time because one knows there’s no competition existing. Bundesliga wanted to compete with the English Premier League in terms of viewership.

Until and unless they try to take steps to ensure equality is maintained in the league, it’ll always be a one team party. How can they expect better viewership from such a league when their English counterparts had occasions when the last 5 minutes of the last game decided the league winners?

Bayern Munich has an all-rounded team. It bases its scouting very deeply into the German system, but it picks its players from Bundesliga itself. One might remember the likes of Gotze and Lewandowski being bought from Borussia Dortmund. And the timing was precise. Another season and Borussia would have won the league yet again. The power, money and reputation it holds has robbed the league of the competition it deserves.

It even affects the German National Team in a similar manner. Since many of the German national players play for Bayern Munich, they played under Pep Guardiola’s possession based football. All though the play is in no way faulted, the gameplay is in stark contrast with the National Team’s push-play. Being professionals, one can argue them to be capable of playing at two different tactics. But undoubtedly, one does affect the other, if not critically but a minor way.

The situation is very similarly matched by that of Juventus in Italy. All though the system in place works excellently for the club based system, the national team is depleted in terms of chances. Imagine a team on top of the table, with many regular national team players on their side. This greatly reduces the chance the younger players get, simply because their efforts are shrouded by the league results of a mega-giant team.

A decent performing player in a top-notch club gets noticed more than an excellent performer at a lesser known club. This is especially resonated by the situation of having a single mega-club in the league. The effects of the situation would be visible in the National team over a long run.

Bundesliga has so long wanted to improve the level of football in its reach, and a major step would be preventing poaching of any good player in the league. Apart from that, certain restrictions need to be put up so as to implement fair quality in the true sense of the word.

Bundesliga is not much different than English Premier League, but we know why the latter is more loved worldwide. For the betterment of football, let us hope the giant to relinquish or for some  other club to rise to glory.