Is the Bundesliga overtaking the Premier League?

Hamza Nkuutu This year’s UEFA Champions’ League group phase sees three of four English clubs pitted against German opposition, something that presents a chance for the Premier League to prove it still has some bite on the European stage. The Premier League clings to its self styled, “the best League in the world” tag but when it comes to real business, the ‘best league in the world’ goes missing, at times, without a trace as it was last season when no English club reached the quarter-finals of Europe’s two elite club competitions — the Champions League and Europa League. As a result, the German Bundesliga has overtaken the English Premier League in UEFA’s coefficient rankings for the first time in 15 years. Coefficient rankings are calculated by looking at the performances of clubs from domestic leagues around Europe in European competitions in the last five years. Germany’s top flight is now in second place behind Spain’s La Liga, in the list of the most successful leagues in European competition. German clubs have consistently done well in the UEFA Champions League and the Europa League. Bayern Munich have reached the last four of the Champions League in the last four years and played in the 2012 and 2013 finals, when they defeated their Bundesliga rivals, Borussia Dortmund, to win the title at Wembley stadium in London. The poor performances from English clubs could soon see its Champions League quota cut from four teams down to three if they don’t improve on the continent, starting this season. Currently, UEFA preserves four Champions League spots for only three countries – Spain, Germany and England. But another bad run in Europe for Premier League clubs could lead to Italy pushing England out of that elite trio. While the Premier League’s most enthusiastic supporters insist, without facts, that any of the top six have a chance to win the league, in reality, England’s top flight is dominated by four teams. Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United are consistent Champions League contenders, while Manchester City have replaced Liverpool in recent years as the fourth team, although one could argue the situation is not so different in Germany and Spain. For the second season a row and the third time since 2001/02, four German teams (Bayern Munich, Leverkusen, Borussia Monchengladbach and VfL Wolfsburg) playing in the European elite competition. What makes the Premier League is money, lots of it being spent to attract superstar players to the extent that both Chelsea and Man City have abandoned the notion of a youth system, and instead buy anything and whatever price in the name of achieving (read buying) success. In Germany, while only Bayern can boast of as many superstars as any of the top four Premier League clubs, but to their credit, they have far too many players from their own youth system. For the Premier League campaigners, to them, European football means Champions League — they forget that even the Europa League counts towards UEFA’s coefficient rankings. English clubs seem not to take Europe’s second biggest club competitions seriously. How does UEFA’s coefficient system work? Each team - in the Champions League and Europa League - is awarded two points for a win and one point for a draw, then at the end of the season; the totals are added up and divided by the number of teams that represented their country in that given season. The English Premier League has a far wider range of viewership but that also is under threat, thanks to StarTimes, who have taken the German league to football fans even in the remotest part of Rwanda. The fans, who for different reason, can’t afford DSTV decoder or time to go to bar to watch the Premier League, can instead watch the Budesliga either in their homes or at a nearby shop that has a more affordable StarTimes decoder. For this one reason, I am inclined to believe in five years, the Bundesliga will have covered sizeable ground on the Premier League in so many African countries. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Is the Bundesliga overtaking the Premier League?