Bundesliga: unequal kick-off times on matchday 33 are unfair

Opinion

It’s about the championship, the places for international business or relegation. To be or not to be – no question: The season finale of the Bundesliga is one of the most emotional weeks in the sports calendar. No wonder, since it is a good tradition that the penultimate and final match days only have one kick-off time: Saturday, 3.30 p.m. Nine games in nine places. What happens in one stadium can have an impact in another – immediately. Nobody celebrates the championship on the sofa, nobody can let themselves down because the competition has already lost in the relegation battle. The last two matchdays unfold their very own magic on the radio. When, in the second half, a proud nine reporters get together in the ARD Bundesliga final conference and call the drama of the fight for the last points of the season into the living rooms or cars of the republic.

33rd Bundesliga match day is frayed

Stop. As far as the nostalgia block. Because that’s history. Last season, the German Football League (DFL) sacrificed the iron tradition of parallel games (with very few exceptions) on the last two matchdays on the altar of commerce. The 33rd matchday will “in future be played as a regular matchday with staggered kick-off times,” the DFL announced in March 2020. At that time, the television broadcasting rights were reassigned. The Bundesliga calendar, which was already fragmented anyway, was filleted even further. After all, why only broadcast on Saturdays between 3:30 p.m. and 5:15 p.m. when there is still time for games on Saturday evening, Friday and Sunday? The equation is simple: more game dates = more airtime = more money. After all, the DFL wants to keep up with the English Premier League…

This is understandable from an economic point of view, but from a sporting perspective it is a disaster. While a lot had already been decided before matchday 33 in the 2021/2022 season and the effects of the split penultimate matchday were manageable, the scheduling this year could result in real distortions of competition, as not even half of the games will be played on Saturday afternoon. Just three examples of possible consequences:

One way or another, Dortmund will be under pressure again on the 33rd match day, Borussia knows that. “We can’t change it, nobody asked us. If you ask me honestly, I see it as a certain disadvantage if you follow suit three times in the next three weeks,” BVB sports director Sebastian Kehl recently annoyed – and rightly so.

The DFL actively distorts competition

On the last two matchdays, everything is usually a bit related, and that’s always been what made it so appealing. That’s over – and those responsible for the DFL shouldn’t care (once again) as long as the money is flowing. Several clubs already know how the direct competition played before the kick-off next weekend – it has nothing to do with competitive equality (or fairness). The same applies to league two.

The current TV rights have been assigned until the end of the 2024/2025 season, and the status quo will not change until then. But after that, the DFL should again orientate itself on a sentence that has stood unshakably in the playing order of the two top German divisions for decades: “The last two matchdays of the Bundesliga and the 2nd Bundesliga must be played simultaneously in each division.”

The DFL’s pursuit of profit should remain a pious wish, after all there are other role models besides the Premier League: In Spain or Italy even the last matchday is played at a later time.e

Until then, fans should at least be able to enjoy the magic in the stadiums or the big cinema on the radio on the 34th match day – and hope that the DFL will eventually realize that they are doing massive damage to football by playing at different times.