Why Germany's Biggest Clubs Keep Getting Relegated

at the end of last month Hamburg kicked off their season against Shela the vks Park Stadium one of the grandest Arenas in European football was packed out to the brim as a sellout crowd of 57,000 turned up to watch two of Germany's most illustrious clubs lockhorns Hamburg are six-time German Champions three time dfb pocal winners and one of only three German clubs to have won the Champions League or European Cup along with Bayern Munich and barus dormund Hamburg average over 50,000 fans at their home games and boast a membership of almost 90,000 which is the seventh most amongst German clubs and about the same number as Real Madrid Shela meanwhile can go one better than Hamburg as seven time German champions five-time dfb pocal winners and they themselves won a major European trophy in 1997 the UEFA cup following victory in the final against Inter Milan shelus Stadium currently known as the veltins arena is also one of European football's most outstanding venues Shala average sellout crowds of over 60,000 at their home games and with a massive 160,000 paid up members they have the second most in Germany behind only Bayern Munich and the fifth most in all of world football ahead of Manchester United and Barcelona the atmosphere inside of the vks Park Stadium was electric and supporters were reward with a spectacle to match it was a game that had almost everything eight goals one red card a comeback Victory a win or an injury time and even a debut goal by a 17-year-old Wonder kit the only thing that it lacked in truth was any effort by either side to actually defend this was without a doubt one of the all-time great opening games of a Bundesliga season except this wasn't the Bundesliga at all it was the second Bundesliga the second tier of German Football where Hamburg have spent the last five seasons having never previously been relegated from the Bundesliga and where Shela find themselves yet again this season having suffered a second Bundesliga relegation in only three seasons last term Hamburg and Shela are far from being German football's only fallen giants nurenberg Kaiser slon Carl's ruer herter Berlin and Fortuna dorf have won a further 31 trophies between them Vera brayman stutgart cologne and fryborg are all back in the Bundesliga now but have been relegated in recent years meanwhile Dam Dresden 1860 Munich and root viser Essen have suffered from an even worse fate and will compete in the third League of this season there are more former German Champions nine in the second Bundesliga this season than there are eight in the Bundesliga itself including three of Germany's six most successful clubs of all time and four who have won major European trophies it is frankly remarkable it would be the equivalent in English football in terms of success and support of Arsenal Manchester City Tottenham Newcastle Nottingham Forest and West Ham all competing in the championship with Chelsea Aston Villa and wolves all having been relegated in recent years West Brom Leicester city and Sheffield United all dropping down into League one and Sunderland falling into the non-league game the UK's joint bid to host Euro 2028 along with Ireland doesn't feature any non-top flight stadiums though admittedly Everton are doing their best to put that right at Euro 2024 by contrast four out of the 10 stadiums are occupied by second Bundesliga teams and one of the other six belongs to stutgart who found themselves in the relegation playoffs last season it is a striking Trend and one which is only accelerating so why exactly did Germany's biggest football clubs just keep getting relegated well sit back relax and join me on a journey to the land of frankfur as ler hosen and the four-time world champions as we take a look at Germany's fallen giants the joyan chaos of the second Bundesliga and what it all means for the German game every Bundesliga Fallen giant has some quirks to their Tales of Misfortune Kaiser slon who suffered one of the most spectacular demises found themselves Meed in Scandal and a deep financial crisis within three years of winning a shock Bundesliga title just8 years after the crowning moment in the history of the club not unlike Leicester City Kaiser slou were relegated following their famous title win Kaiser slaton's spending sharply increased and when they failed to qualify for Europe in 2001 all hell broke loose the club's management team were ousted and the new president was forced to sell the fritz Walter stadion to avoid Kaiser slon being declared bankrupt they survived a three-point deduction for their financial misdeeds in 2004 but two years later Kaiser slon dropped out of the top flight the pain wouldn't stop there a return to the Bundesliga in 2010 only lasted two seasons before Kaiser slon were relegated again and in 2018 yet another relegation saw the club drop down into the third lier for the very first time it took Kaiser slon four years to get out of the third tier of German Football where they still average attendances of an excess of 16,000 and they are not among the favorites to win promotion back to the Bundesliga this season nurenberg who have won the second most German championships one ahead of bruscia Dortmund and trailing only Bayern Munich also dropped down into the third tier after imploding during the mid 1990s newberg's problems were also financial and ultimately led to their Treasurer Ingo burble receiving a three and a halfe prison sentence for fraud tax evasion and misallocating Club finances just two years after dropping out of the Bundesliga nurenberg would dock six points owing to their financial irregularities in the second Bundesliga and relegated once again following more than a decade of tumult Kaiser slon finished sixth in the Bundesliga won the dfb poal and qualified for the uafa Cup in 2006 but just 12 months later atrocious transfer business and a bizarre managerial Mero round saw them relegated again nurenberg have now spent nine out of the last 10 seasons in the second Bundesliga including the current campaign having been relegated in their only season back in in the Top Flight in 201819 1860 Munich who were founding members of the Bundesliga back in 1963 unlike their Munich Rivals Bayern and won the league in 1966 can go one worse than either Kaiser slon or norenberg though at the turn of the Millennium Superstars like Thomas hler davl shuker and de Pelle dawned the famous blue and white of 1860 and they played leads United in a Champions League qualifier in August of 2000 unfortunately 1860's fate was to mirror leades in many respects over the coming years during the 20304 season 1860s president KL Hinesville Mossa was arrested on suspicion of taking bribes from the Austrian construction firm that built the alian arena just a year after he had been fed € 27,000 for tax evasion relating to Hidden salary payments made to 1860 players 8 1860 were ropped by that news unsurprisingly but the fans themselves were even more concerned at the prospect of ground sharing with their hated Rivals Bayern 1860 went on to be relegated That season just three years after competing in the Champions League and vild Mossa left the club in a dire Financial State 1860 Munich have almost been declared insolvent multiple times in the 20 years since and in 2017 they were relegated to the second B bundes Liga 1860s investor Hassan ishm subsequently refused to pay the necessary fees for 1860 to enter the third lier so they instead suffered a double relegation dropping into the regional and not entirely professional fourth tier of German Football as their neighbors have enjoyed an unprecedented era of dominance at the top table of German Football as well as winning two Champions Leagues 1860 have watched on from the depths of the German game they clawed their way back to the third League or in 2018 but they have been stuck there ever since the real giants sheler and Hamburg suffered less emphatic but no less shocking declines sheler who are by any metric one of the biggest clubs in German Football went from Bundesliga Runners up in 2018 to 14th in 2019 and relegation in 2021 immediate promotion from the second buliga in 2022 was supposed to Herald the dawning of a new era but a shocking defensive record meant that the club's return to the Top Flight would be shortlived hamburg's relegation in 2018 was particularly painful though it had been a long time coming until that point Hamburg had never been relegated in the entire 130e history of the club and they were the only team to have competed in every single Bundesliga season since 1963 nonetheless they had only survived by the skin of their teeth in the past Four Seasons twice requiring victories in the relegation playoffs before falling to 18th an automatic relegation in 2018 a club of Hamburg size isn't supposed to stick around for long playing secondary football but this is now the club's six successive season attempting to get back where they feel that they belong in a fairly recent video that I made about why Italian football stadiums are so bad I drew a contrast between Italy's disastrous mishandling of renovating and building new stadiums when they hosted the World Cup in 1990 and the state-of-the-art venues that Germany cultivated or newly built when they hosted the tournament in 2006 that is all undeniably true and Germany still has more UAA category 4 stadiums than any other country in Europe but it came at a significant cost the alians arena has been a godsend for biome Munich but the outrage from 1860 fans at the arrangement set the tone for the two decades that were to come the early 75,000 seat Olympia stardan in Berlin which was newly renovated for the World Cup and hosted the final is a stunning venue which absolutely rocks when it's full unfortunately herter who were until recently the highest ranked team from the German Capital but have not historically been particularly successful struggle to fill it or create a rockus atmosphere outside of the biggest of matches for years now herter have been looking to build a new purpose bolt Stadium all of their own in the Olympia park with a capacity of 55,000 the most damaging renovation project long-term of all though was at Kaiser slon the fritz Walter Stadium required upgrades which came in at a cost of 76.5 million EUR saddling the club with a financial burden from which they have never truly recovered bet set is a thing of beauty but bringing it up to standard for a month-long football tournament came at a significant cost to Kaiser slon both on and off the pitch Stuart's home ground required Renovations totaling in excess of 60 million EUR hamburg's Volks Park Stadium was entirely rebuilt at a cost of roughly 10000 million EUR cologne's Ryan Energy stadium came in at almost €20 million e the newly built Nida Saka I in Hanover over 80 million e and the max Morlock stadion in yurg a touch over 55 million it's important to note that not all of the clubs involved picked up the entire tabs for the build or renovation costs in some cases they only provided a portion or none at all but even in some of those instances it led to significant rent hikes from the local authorities which own the ground and were looking to recoup some of the money that they had spent more significant still however in terms of the downfall of some of Germany's biggest clubs has just been the rise of previously obscure or non-existent teams at first there was B lusen powered by and indeed named after one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies then came Wolfsburg with the financial backing of Volkswagen more recently hoffenheim The Village Club financed by billionaire deepar hop and most notably of all RB Leipzig owned and operated by the AUST energy drink Giants who have taken the league by storm in recent years that alone is for new or newish clubs constituting more than 1 fth of the 18 teams who compete in the Bundesliga each season who finish third Sixth e8th and 12th in the league last season and none of whom have been relegated since first reaching the Bundesliga it goes without saying that when four new teams enter the Bundesliga and the league isn't expanded four must part and if those four are to stick around as they have no one can take their place that is enormously significant so too has the less artificial rise of just extremely well-run smaller clubs like Harden Heim dad and most impressively of all unon Berlin who finished fourth in the Bundesliga and qualified for the Champions League last season those three are perhaps the most notable since they are currently competing in the Bundesliga but Germany's lower league teams across the board have also become much more professional in recent years then V Barden from the city of V Barden which is best known internationally as the location of the US Army in Europe's headquarters play at the modest Breer Arena a stadium which looks like it was built out of Lego and cost just4 million e to build in 2007 then were promoted via the third Liga promotion playoffs last season earning themselves a third stab at life in the second Bundesliga where they have drawn against magdor and W against herter and kerer in their opening three games of the Season VI is just one example paradorn have won two promotions to the Bundesliga in the last 10 years holin Keel have been extremely competitive since winning promotion to the second Bundesliga six years ago and osar Brook currently managed by Bastian Schweinsteiger brother Tobias returned to the second Bundesliga last season and have spent more seasons in the second Bundesliga without winning promotion to the Bundesliga than any other club there are few easy games in either the second Bundesliga or the third Lia and an admirable lack of respect for fallen giants when they drop down there you might have imagined that the success of hoffenheim and RB Le Zig might have made the supporters of Germany's alien Giants seek to go down a similar route and become let's say BMW shalka Airbus Hamburg or or Fortuna Seaman dorf but the opposite is actually true German Football is rooted in Tradition far more so than any other major nation in Europe it can be hard for English football fans to understand or even contemplate having become so accustom to being almost entirely dependent upon their wealthy benefactors but the vast majority of Germans don't envy the Premier League or the model of English football in the slightest to Germans the idea of selling centuries old institutions with such cultural and emotional significance to individual billionaires wealthy corporations or tyrannical States thousands of miles away is antithetical to their entire concept of what a football club is and what it means most Germans don't look at Manchester City or Liverpool with any sense of Envy unlike a lot of other European countries who have just been less successful than the Premier League in corporatizing their leagues might it sounds cliche but there is more to football than winning trophies and being owned by a middle eastern state or a US conglomerate isn't even a tradeoff in the eyes of most it would be a death of the thing that once was and anything from that point onwards would either be Hollow or meaningless deepar hop grew up in hoffenheim and actually played for the club and his teens he has more attachment to hoffenheim than the owner of just about any Premier League team has to their Club he began investing in hoffenheim in 1990 when the club was competing and struggling it should be said in the eighth tier of German Football Hop's investment transformed hoffenheim from non-league stragglers into a force to be reckoned with and in the 20078 season which was their only season in the second Bundesliga they spent more money than every other team in the league combined during their debut campaign in the Bundesliga hoffenheim moved into the 30,000 seat Ryan Neer Arena built at an estimated cost of € 100 million personally paid for by hop all told the billionaire software engineer is reported to have invested over a third of a billion euros into hoffenheim hoffenheim have now been a Mainstay in the Bundesliga for the last 15 years twice qualifying for the champions league and finishing as high as third above bruscia Dortmund in the 201718 season the hatred of hoffen and hop therefore stems not from the hatred of dispassionate Outsiders or the most objectionable people imaginable who have bought English football over the last three decades but primarily from a love of tradition and the essence of German Football that hoffenheim have disregarded hoffenheim was an amateur club based in a small village which crucially had almost no fans when hop first invested in them even in the third tier after five promotions and just 3 years before reaching the Bundesliga hoffenheim still average fewer than 2,000 fans at their home games hoffenheim isn't a real Club as far as many Germans are concerned it is deepar Hop's Pet Project a club that represents one man not a community or an organic fan base and an affront to the supporter engage model at almost every other club until 1998 German Football officially prohibited any private investment in football clubs whatsoever since 1998 the 50 plus1 rule has been the compromise private investors whether that be companies or individuals can invest in clubs but members so supporters who pay a typically modest annual membership fee must retain at least 50% of the club's voting rights plus one share preventing majority takeovers by external entities and ensuring that members always control a majority of voting rights the 50 plus1 rule is credited with curbing the worst excesses of commercialization and ensuring that in German Football unlike throughout a lot of the continent football fans still have a powerful voice both season and match day tickets across the board but particularly at the top clubs are much cheaper in the Bundesliga than they are in any of Europe's other major leagues season tickets at Bayern Munich start at €60 or just €9 40 a game and even the most expensive cheapest season ticket in the league a brucia Dortmund starts at €240 or roughly speaking €14 a game season tickets at Arsenal and Tottenham by comparison start at £ 87 and 974 so between £45 to 54 a game and Fulham offer a non-corporate season ticket that will set you back £3,000 or Rec coal 167 a game still at least you'll get to see lots of goals this season just you know perhaps not many of them for the home team even the cheapest season ticket in the Premier League which can be found at West Ham United cost £310 over twice as much as the cheapest offering at Bayern Munich who some would even argue have a stronger Squad and a more illustrious pass than the Habs most German clubs have substantial standing sections for fans who would rather remain on their feet during a game the atmospheres are quite frankly incomparable to all but a handful of matches in the English game and unlike here in England German fans are entrusted to drink beer on The Terraces and in their seats I know it is hard to believe these are all things understandably one might suggest which are valued by German fans even more so than success what use would it be watching your team in the Bundesliga title alone because your friend could no longer afford to go to games success has become the be all and end all in English football where not all but many fans will excuse just about anyone or anything in the name of winning matches but Germans refuse to make the same sacrifices or deals with their devil in an era of supreme Premier League dominance within European football the Bundesliga has emerged as the perfect antidote whereas other leagues wish and seek to emulate the Premier League but are just far less effective at marketing and attracting Capital certainly most Bundesliga fans want nothing to do with the whole model the term English Voda literally English week is used disparagingly to describe weeks in which clubs play matches during the week rather than on a Saturday afternoon As is standard throughout the Premier League season fewer than half of Premier League League games now kick off at 3:00 p.m. on a Saturday the rest from Friday through to Monday evening kick off whenever the broadcasters want them to with practically zero regard for match-going fans these are things that the average English football fan doesn't even think about anymore for good or bad it is just the norm but in Germany where match-going fans still hold large Sway and care deeply about tradition the same thing on a much more minor scale has been met with with Fierce opposition in the mid 1980s Byer eringen were Main Stays in the Bundesliga finishing as high as third winning the dfb pocal and reaching the semi-finals of the European Cup winners cup eringen as their name at the time illustrated were funded by the pharmaceutical Giants buer in 1995 however buer withdrew their financial support for the club focusing all of their footballing attention on B lusen who had just qualified for European football football That season instead erding were relegated The Following Season again in 1999 again in 2005 and 2008 dropping down into the amateur sixth tier of German Football just 12 years after they had been in the Bundesliga for clubs Reliance on individual benefactors of which there are a handful in Germany and an abundance almost everywhere else that risk will always exist hoffenheim and leig are desp then as threats to the Traditions that German football fans hold so dear and opposition to the Miss onlyi strength and support for tradition rather than tempting fans to disregard 50 plus1 or supporter engagement in favor of private ownership one of the problems with the 50 plus1 model however particularly since the 1998 reforms allowing regulated private Investments is the supremacy of Bayern Munich Bayern have more members than any other club in world World football at almost twice as many as any other team in the Bundesliga at over 300,000 that generates the club roughly 20 million EUR annually alone but much more significant still are their three largest commercial Partners Adidas Audi and alians who each own 8.33% of the club the remaining 75% is owned by bayern's more than 300,000 members and bayern's Commercial Revenue at € 3378 million is the highest in all of world football the next highest in the Bundesliga at brucia Dortmund isn't even worth half that amount in fact bayern's commercial Revenue alone is larger than dortmund's overall Revenue including match day and broadcast Revenue as well it is no surprise therefore that bay have won the last 11 Bundesliga titles in a row albe it Dortmund did very nearly and should actually have won it last season between 1963 and 1998 a period of 35 years Bayern was still the most successful team in Germany winning 14 out of a possible 35 Bundesliga titles between the 1998 reforms and 20123 though a period of 25 years Bayern have won 19 out of a possible 25 Bundesliga titles that is an increase from 40 to over 75% and over the past decade of course it has been 100% bayern's dominance is undoubtedly a problem for the Bundesliga not just in terms of excitement but for the Fallen Giants we are primarily concerned with like Hamburg sheler and stutgart it means that the bunders Lea title is no longer a realistic Prospect clubs that could once compete for the very biggest prizes both domestically and internationally can no longer do so forcing them to lower their expectations giving them an inbuilt Financial disadvantage and kickstarting one could argue the domino effect of massive clubs falling from grace that we have seen over the recent years and decades the commitment of German clubs to tradition and fan engagement might be admirable I think most people would agree but they cannot afford to become stale or sentimental in terms of their recruitment coaching or Player Development hoffenheim and Le Zig for all of their faults are among the most Innovative clubs in the Bundesliga and routinely do some of the best transfer business hop might have spent wild sums to get hoffenheim into the bundes lia but since they got there they have been mly shrewd over the past decade they have a net spend of 171 million e of profit the most of any team in the division leig meanwhile have generated almost € 100 million EUR in player trades and over half a billion euros in transfer Revenue over the last three seasons alone both of which are Bundesliga records as well while some of Germany's biggest clubs have grown stale in recent years in terms of their thinking and methods embracing tradition and Innovative Recruitment and play Dev elements are not mutually exclusive Union Berlin are perhaps the most fan-led and fan engaged Club in the bundes Leer during times of extreme hardship during the late 2000s Union fans literally renovated the club stadium with her own hands as volunteers along with a campaign to raise funds by donating blood meaning that Union fans quite literally bleed for their Club in recent years despite operating on a comparative shoestring budget unon have enjoyed a remarkable rise promoted to the Bundesliga for the first time in the history of the club in 2019 they finished fourth last season qualifying for the Champions League unan are The Shining light of how you can have your cake and eat it and serve as an example to every Club looking to reach and compete in the bundes Leer for all of the external factors that I've talked about extensively which have impacted Germany's fallen giants their own incompetence and recklessness ought not be overlooked in many instances they have struggled to strike a balance between ambition and reason for those who overspent it typically only took one Bad season for disaster to strike and a calamitous downfall to ensue for those who exercise restraint in many instances their demise was more gradual like a tire with a slow puncture but they ended up in the exact same place a number of them have also taken their eye off the ball when it comes to theirm shala's Academy is rightly lorded as one of the finest in World football the likes of Mamel Noya mezil Benedict Herz IL gundan Max Meer Julian Drax and Leroy San all came through the nap and Schmid Academy but in recent years the club's production line has dried up they are not alone outside of midfielders German Youth Development the most reliable in World football for so long appears to have malfunctioned and the dfb recently instituted a raft of reforms in light of Germany's successive group stage exits from the 2018 and 2022 World Cups it's not just that German clubs are developing fewer star players now it's also that on the rare occasions in which they still do they are losing them for little to nothing whereas shalka sold the likes of San Draxler and neya for an absolute Fortune back in the day more recently they have lost the likes of Malik chow and Max Meer phenomenal fees or nothing that is partly due to incompetence and poor planning but it's also the fact that even in Germany young players often often encouraged by their agents are becoming much more willing to run down their contracts and either reduce or entirely eliminate their potential transfer fees for the likes of shalka stutgart 1860 and Hamburg theiry were once major assets and cash cows for them even if they would have rather kept hold of their best players and that Revenue stream being blunted ought not be underestimated nor should the broader issue alluded to there far from exclusive to the Bundesliga of every Premier League team now having far more spending power than them and being able to poach pretty much anyone outside of Bayern and Dortmund players at will the realignment of German Football has had some interesting consequences it is no exaggeration to say that the second Bundesliga is now one of the biggest leagues in World football the average attendance across hamburg's first three games of the Season at home to Shela away at KS rer and and at home to herter Berlin has been just shy of 50,000 seven out of the League's 18 clubs average over 30,000 fans at their home games and 11 average over 25,000 with Shela leading the way at more than 60,000 Hamburg at 57,000 and both Kaiser slon and hter in excess of 40,000 the League's average attendance as a whole at over 27,000 is the fifth highest in World football ahead of Le gun and the championship and only very narrowly behind La Liga and Sera the second Bundesliga is home to some of Germany's biggest clubs fiercest Rivals and most unpredictable scor lines in a league of contrasts between Fallen Giants and overachieving Minnows entertainment is very rarely in short supply some German football fans have even started calling it the best league in the world the second Bundesliga is actually so popular now for all of their those reasons that there are concerns that it is starting to detract from the Bundesliga itself as more and more eyeballs focus on Germany second here instead that should come as no surprise the second Bundesliga has incredible atmospheres fan culture and teams steeped in Tradition it might not have the world's best players but it has everything that makes German Football so magical that is it for today's video but thank you all very much as ever for watching hit the like button if you enjoyed it let me know your thoughts Down Below in the comments and of course make sure that you are subscribed and have notifications turned on both for this channel Hit tz7s And my second Channel Alfie Poots armor both of which should be on your screens now you can also find me on Twitter or Instagram via the username at hc7 on both should you wish to do so

Channel: HITC Sevens

Views: 344,474

Keywords: HITC Sevens, Football, Soccer, Germany, Bundesliga, Relegated, Schalke, Hamburg, Hertha Berlin, 2. Bundesliga, Relegation, Hamburger SV, Kaiserslautern, Owner, Money, Finance, Downfall, Demise, Premier League, Fortuna Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, Bayern Munich

Id: VrrMZ2GsC5g

Length: 33min 52sec (2032 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 25 2023