Bayer Leverkusen’s sporting director devalues Bayern’s Bundesliga success

Bayern Munich have won the Bundesliga title six straight seasons and Bayer Leverkusen sporting director Rudi Völler is tired of it— better yet, Völler believes Bayern’s recent title run is overrated.

In an interview with German magazine Socrates (c/o TZ), Völler explains that declaring one’s ambition of challenging FC Bayern for the Bundesliga title is ‘inappropriate’. In fact, Völler believes Bayern’s domestic reign won’t end for years to come. It might be possible to beat Bayern in a game, Völler says,

But to win the championship? You can’t communicate that before the beginning of the season given the extraordinary quality at Bayern’s disposal. You almost have the feeling that Bayern’s B-team would make it into Champions League.

Hence, it is “hard to imagine that Bayern won’t be the champion again.”

Völler added that Bayern’s recent title-winning form does not equal its success in the Bundesliga during the 1980s and 1990s. Völler believes,

that Bayern’s championships in the 80s and 90s should be rated significantly higher than those today, because at the time the competition was simply greater and teams were in part still on an even playing field financially. Bayern now are so far removed from the rest of the league that their many championships in the past years have lost some of their value.

Here lay a Sporting Director—one of Bayern Munich’s rivals, played for 1860 Munich, SV Werder Bremen and Leverkusen themselves, during his 19-year career. The center forward won the German Golden Boot twice, once with Bremen in 1983. However, Völler never won a Bundesliga title.

In fact, ‘Tante Käthe’, as some call him, finished as a runner-up three out of four seasons with SV Werden Bremen between 1982 and 1986. His success is highlighted with Die Mannschaft, winning the FIFA World Cup in 1990 and infamously leading Die Mannschaft to the 2002 World Cup final as coach.

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