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Opinion: Bundesliga set for unforgettable 2020

December 21, 2019

The first half of a thrilling Bundesliga season is all but over. Questions will undoubtedly be asked about a lack of quality, but the excitement around Germany's top flight promises a great deal for next year.

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Fußball Bundesliga RB Leipzig vs. FC Augsburg
Image: AFP/R. Hartmann

If the last few weeks have proven anything it's that the league's competitiveness has certainly come from an increase in errors (looking at you Dortmund). While the absence of a team a notch above the rest will concern some, it also sets up Bundesliga football in 2020 perfectly.

A title race combined with all the stories across the country that make this league so intriguing have placed this Bundesliga season on the verge of being one of the most memorable and also important campaigns to date.

Granted, the final matchday offered more of a whimper than a bang, but despite the presence of bumbled first touches, wayward positioning and strange decision-making, there were also injury-time winners, inexplicable comebacks and a new king at the halfway stage. Two weeks ago, the league's excitement levels were worth celebrating. Now, with the first half of the season over, it's time to recognize how perfectly the stage is set for football next year.

If RB Leipzig do win the title, the conversations about the way in which they did so will be endless. Julian Nagelsmann will deserve credit, Timo Werner will be coveted, but the inquest into the future of German domestic football will rage if the 10-year-old club lifts the Meisterschale.

Many, with the possible exception of those who drink beer in small, thin glasses in and around Cologne, will be cheering for Gladbach. A club with a storied history, particularly in the 1970s, has collected a very capable group of players under the guidance of a head coach not making as many headlines as Nagelsmann, but winning nearly as many points.

Deutsche Welle Englisch Fußball Jonathan Harding
DW's Jonathan HardingImage: DW/P.Henriksen

In sport it's never wise to say anthing is safe to predict, but the magnitude of Dortmund's errors in the last four days were great enough to write that barring a miracle change in the new year, Lucien Favre's side will not win the title this season. Schalke have the same points as their rivals, but finishing in the top four is the only 'title' that David Wagner and his side are looking for.

Hansi Flick will stay as head coach of Bayern Munich until the end of the season, and if the Bavarians run out champions he will have played a pivotal role. Last season they hauled in Dortmund from nine points back. A four-point difference to a team and a coach who have never been in this position before sounds very manageable for Bayern Munich, however many injuries they have.

However it turns out, the Bundesliga has already won. More people will tune in, more FIFA 20 career modes will be played in Germany's top flight, more people will want to make the trip through the forest to the Stadium by the Old Woodsman's House, and more hot takes will be tweeted. Whether you like any of that or not is up to you, but there's no denying the Bundesliga will be more relevant than before.

That's why whoever wins the 2019-20 Bundesliga title, this season will be one that sticks in the memory in years to come.