Bundesliga Bliss

The Bundesliga is back and I couldn’t be more excited! Now, I have to admit, I normally wouldn’t watch Germany’s top soccer league, but COVID has changed that. When it comes to European leagues, I normally tune into Spain’s La Liga, Italy’s Serie A, and the UK’s Premier League. I started watching these leagues as a kid and was hooked. The Bundesliga was largely unavailable to me before, and by the time it was, it didn’t exactly grab my attention. It’s not because the league isn’t good and doesn’t have any attractive storylines, it’s because there wasn’t that one player that caught my attention and turned my loyalty towards a certain team.

Ronaldo was one of the first players who never ceased to amaze me when he stepped on the pitch and my loyalties followed his trek from FC Barcelona and later to Inter Milan. By the time he transferred to Real Madrid, I was well set as a Barcelona fan, so obviously my loyalty didn’t follow him to Madrid. In the Premier League, a young David Beckham with a great supporting cast at Manchester United caught my attention when I first saw them in action. I’ll admit all the titles they won in those years made it easier to be a fan, but the way in which coach Sir Alex Ferguson seemed to always find a way to have United in top form made you proud to be a fan of the Red Devils.

Unfortunately, I never felt any of those connections with anyone or team in the Bundesliga. The main instances in which I would watch a team from this league would be in the European club competitions like the Champions or Europa League. At times, it’d mean they face a team I root for and if they so happened to eliminate them, it always left me with a sour taste. I felt that way in 2013 after a juggernaut Bayern Munich steamrolled Barcelona in the Champions League with an aggregate score line of 7–0. There are times in soccer when the score won’t tell you the whole story, but it sure did in this situation. Bayern was vastly superior and deserved to advance and win it all like they did, but it was painful. For that reason, it was very sweet when Barcelona exacted revenge on them 2 years later on the way their Champions League table.

So why is it that a league I don’t have a connection with and has teams that have caused me to be upset in the past now brings me joy? For one, it’s the first major soccer league that is back in action after COVID has brought everything to a screeching halt. Notice, I say major because Belarus’s Premier League has been in action since March. However, outside of Belarus, Russia and other neighboring countries, you’re unable to watch games unless you visit certain sites, and even then, it’s a long shot. Trust me, I tried. Recently, they began uploading videos to YouTube of full games, aware that soccer starved fans want to see some form of competition. I was tuning into Australia’s A-League matches before they shut down. I ignored the fact I wasn’t familiar with the teams or players and that the quality wasn’t the best because I just wanted to watch some soccer.

What the Bundesliga offers that the A-League and the Belarusian Premier League couldn’t offer was quality play, familiar names and teams along intriguing story lines. Another reason the Bundesliga didn’t attract me recently was due to the fact Bayern Munich has overwhelmingly dominant and has won every title since the 2012–13 season. Bayern fans in Bavaria and around the world obviously enjoy this, but the casual fan and outsider like myself won’t find that interesting. However, Bayern faces a stiff challenger in Borussia Dortmund this season. Dortmund is only 4 points behind Bayern for the top spot and we’re in for a treat as they face off tomorrow in a key match in the title race. If Bayern wins, they most likely put enough distance to win their 8th straight domestic title, otherwise Dortmund will make these final weeks very interesting. As an outsider, I’d like Dortmund to win and overtake Bayern.

Dortmund appeals to me for a couple reasons. One of those is one that we can’t currently enjoy at the moment: their fan support. Their stadium is routinely sold out and the supporters’ section is always loud and supportive. The environments at Dortmund games is among the best in the world and if you don’t believe me, look them up on YouTube. Another is their exciting young talent which includes 19-year-old Erling Håland and 17-year-old Giovanni Reyna. Håland caught the eyes of many when he scored 9 goals (that’s not a typo) against Honduras in the 2019 U-20 World Cup for Norway. He started out the season at Red Bull Salzburg in Austria, but joined Dortmund in a midseason transfer and hasn’t disappointed since coming to Germany. Reyna appeals to me more on a personal note since he is the son of former American international soccer standout, Claudio Reyna. His father was popularly known as Captain America among U.S. Soccer fans due to being captain and performing at a high level with the national team. I hope Reyna finds success on the club level and especially on the national team level because U.S. Soccer needs something positive from the men’s squad (more on that later).

Another story of personal interest for me is that of Tyler Adams. Adams started out at Red Bull New York and impressed enough to be transferred to Red Bull Leipzig last year. Adams was sidelined with an injury to start this season, but has helped Leipzig advance to knockout stages of this year’s Champions League while playing a key role as midfielder. Adams is another stand out I hope finds success at the club level, but even more so with the national team. He already got off to a good note with the latter when he scored against Mexico in a 2018 friendly.

While Bayern’s dominance is a reason I haven’t tuned into the Bundesliga, I have to admit it’s quite impressive. Winning a title is hard enough but to repeat year in and year out is astonishing. Their games are routinely sold out and they don’t have trouble attracting star players and keeping them, which is why star forwards like Robert Lewandowski have been there since 2014. Interestingly enough, he came over from Dortmund. Anything less than winning it all is deemed a failure at Bayern. You don’t have to look far for proof as they dismissed head coach Niko Kovac in November after getting blown out despite being only 4 points out of first and having won both league and domestic cup the previous season.

The only thing missing from the Bundesliga coming back is having the fan support. The broadcasts have decided to pump in the usual crowd noise to make it feel like the stands are full, but it’ll be better once fans are back. Why? This is because fans make up a huge part of the game experience due to the passion they show. Fans don’t get paid to tune in or go to every game. In fact, they sometimes spend money they don’t have (I was Exhibit A in the past. Don’t let my mom see this.) to be up to date with gear or see their team in action. Watching or going to a game isn’t something fans do when there’s nothing else to do or simply to kill time, it’s something a fan will set aside time for and invest time, money and effort to support with everything they have.

Now, I get it. COVID has changed everything and rightly so. If not playing games will help stop the spread, I’m all for it. Another factor that needs to be taken into account is that soccer games will have medical staff on hand in case of an injury. Pulling medical resources is something that shouldn’t be done unless you’re no longer at an emergency level where hospitals are being overrun. Germany was able to achieve and that’s why they allowed the Bundesliga to return to action. For now, it seems like it’ll be the one league that’ll be in action, though Spain’s La Liga has received the ok to get back in action. We’ll definitely enjoy when the other leagues and sports come back. For now, I’ll enjoy the Bundesliga and everything it has to offer. I hope the league has an exciting finish and continues to entertain us. And who knows? Maybe, I’ll get hooked and keep watching even when the other leagues return.