Heribert Bruchhagen talks about the relegation chances of the Königsblauen and the consequences of the TV money distribution before the Frankfurt match.
For the future, Heribert Bruchhagen would rather see more excitement in championship races in the Bundesliga than extremely successful German representatives in the Champions League. “I don’t mind at all if FC Bayern doesn’t take part in this Champions League shenanigans or drops out early,” the long-time official told the WAZ (Saturday edition). “A more gripping Bundesliga is still more valuable to me as a fan than a particularly good role for German clubs in the Champions League.”
The 74-year-old, who worked for many years at Eintracht Frankfurt as manager and chief executive and also served on the board of the German Football League (DFL), blames the ever-increasing TV money as the reason for the monotony at the top of the table in recent years, and not even the distribution formula.
“Today, you can no longer say in a striking way that the first gets too much and the last too little. Imagine a cake with 36 pieces, which of course are not the same size. But because the radius of the cake has become larger and larger, the pieces have also grown enormously towards the edges. This has decisively increased the differences in the competition; this has led to FC Bayern becoming champions ten times in a row now. At the time, you could not have known that you would advance to this magnitude.”
FC Bayern (68 points) can become German champions for the 11th time in a row on May 27 if the German football record holders win their final two games of the season against RB Leipzig this Saturday and then at 1 FC Cologne. However, Borussia Dortmund, who still play at FC Augsburg and against Mainz 05, are just one point behind the Munich side.
Heribert Bruchhagen’s general interest in the outcome of the Bundesliga season has not yet diminished, however, “because I still have hope that Borussia Dortmund will make it. Because that would simply be good and important for the Bundesliga product. That’s my hope – but I think Bayern will win both games.”
In the relegation battle, Heribert Bruchhagen sees FC Schalke 04 and Hertha BSC on a direct path to the 2nd Bundesliga. While he praised the work of coach Thomas Reis, who had once again put a beaten Schalke in the position of being able to stay in the league, he said: “We don’t need to lie to ourselves either: There is a lot to be said for Schalke getting it. It will be hard to stay in the Bundesliga,” says Bruchhagen, who began his managerial career with the Königsblauen in 1989.
The fact that instead of the two big traditional clubs, according to the current second-division table, SV Darmstadt 98 and 1. FC Heidenheim can be first-class in future demands his respect, but Heribert Bruchhagen also says: “They will enjoy the one year or maybe a second year. But they are not Bundesliga clubs and will not be able to hold on. I want to see Schalke and Hamburger SV in the Bundesliga. And also Hertha BSC, which is now having a big crisis, they will return to the Bundesliga if they are relegated now. “