This revealing Bayern Munich reminder leaves an obvious Bundesliga conclusion | OneFootball

The last time the Allianz Arena staged a club game, it was – with absolutely no apologies whatsoever to the Club World Cup – the biggest of 2025. Bayern Munich were not in the Champions League final staged in their own backyard, just as, after being eliminated in another quarter-final, they were not in the Club World Cup final. If narrative dictated Bayern won the Champions League in Bavaria, actually Paris Saint-Germain did.

And yet, as the Bundesliga starts when RB Leipzig visit the Allianz Arena on Friday night, Bayern’s dominance in another respect is cemented again. Winners of 12 of the last 13 German titles, they were deposed by Bayer Leverkusen in 2024. Now Bayern can eye a landscape where rivals look diminished, whether by Real Madrid, Premier League money or the Bavarians themselves, while they are protected by their enduring power.

Vincent Kompany’s career path remains unique but, in the last three seasons, he has won both the Championship and the Bundesliga, sandwiching an ignominious Premier League relegation with Burnley. If questions persist about his suitability when he encounters the European elite, an odd managerial appointment looks a qualified success. Give Kompany the biggest budget and the best squad and his Bayern took the title by 13 points last season.

They have already won the Franz Beckenbauer Supercup this year; a second trophy of Harry Kane’s career after the lengthy wait for a first. The England captain’s first two seasons in Germany produced 85 goals; after Robert Lewandowski’s time, the Bundesliga top scorer award can seem the private domain of the Bayern No 9.

Kane has a different supply line this season. For months, there will be no Jamal Musiala, a casualty of the Club World Cup. For the first time since 2007-08, Bayern will not field Thomas Muller, their beloved Raumdeuter, interpreting space in Vancouver now. Leroy Sane is gone to Galatasaray. His £65m replacement Luis Diaz scored in the Supercup and is proof Bayern have an allure to players at Europe’s top clubs.

And yet the division’s defining transfer this summer came as a blow to Bayern. Diaz may have been bought with funds reserved for Florian Wirtz; the blow of Musiala’s injury could have been cushioned had they recruited the Bundesliga’s Player of the Year for 2023-24. Instead, Wirtz is now Liverpool’s £116m arrival, rejecting the near guarantee of silverware with Bayern to leave his homeland.

But there was never a sense of permanence about Leverkusen’s historic champions. Xabi Alonso was manager for a good time, not a long time: after staying in 2024, there looked an inevitability to the Spaniard replacing Carlo Ancelotti at Real. His side has broken up, Jeremie Frimpong again allied with Wirtz at Anfield and Jonathan Tah joining the familiar path of the best of the rest in the Bundesliga by being poached by Bayern. When Erik ten Hag said it was not possible for Leverkusen to allow any more key players to leave, they instead sold the catalytic Granit Xhaka to Sunderland - another indication of Premier League wealth – and captain Lukas Hradecky to Monaco.

open image in gallery

Harry Kane reacts during a friendly against Spurs (AFP via Getty Images)

Ten Hag is an intriguing choice of successor to Leverkusen’s greatest manager. To English eyes, he may be tarnished by his final 14 months at Manchester United. His reputation is higher in Germany and he landed the plum job available in the Bundesliga. His record with young players is a reason and Leverkusen’s recruitment is largely youthful. Seasoned Ten Hag-watchers may not be surprised that it includes both Dutchmen (Mark Flekken and Ernest Poku) and players from Eredivisie clubs (Malik Tillman). Jarell Quansah, charged with replacing Tah, could be proof that Leverkusen can be a fine finishing school.

But it feels like a transitional year for them. They look weakened. So do Eintracht Frankfurt. Third last year, perhaps the Bundesliga’s most profitable traders in players now sold Omar Marmoush in January and Hugo Ekitike in July. Dino Toppmoller’s team may find goals scarcer this year.

That could allow the 2024 Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund to resume their familiar position as Bayern’s closest – if at times still distant – challengers. The former Bayern manager Niko Kovac proved an inspired mid-season appointment; Dortmund were 11th with eight games to go and salvaged a fourth-place finish with a perfectly-timed surge. Now, stripped of Jamie Gittens by Chelsea, they have revisited their recent past, signing a Bellingham from the Championship. Jobe Bellingham has chosen to follow in his brother Jude’s footsteps. In Serhou Guirassy, they have the most potent player in the division besides Kane but, after two seasons, when Dortmund have performed better in Europe than Germany, second could represent progress.

open image in gallery

Borussia Dortmund's Serhou Guirassy, right, celebrates scoring a goal with teammate Marcel Sabitzer (AP)

Two of Germany’s Champions League representatives regressed last year. Stuttgart, second in 2024, dropped to ninth, albeit with the consolation of winning the DFB-Pokal. They have at least repelled Bayern’s advances for the giant striker Nick Woltemade, the star of Germany’s Under-21 team in the European Championships.

Meanwhile, RB Leipzig slumped to seventh, their lowest finish since promotion in 2016 and behind Freiburg and Mainz, who overachieved on slender budgets. If that presented challenges for Red Bull’s Global Head of Soccer, Jurgen Klopp, Leipzig’s response was to hire manager Ole Werner, who won promotion with Werder Bremen and took them to eighth last season. Leipzig’s on-field failures may not have come at a cost to the squad: Benjamin Sesko was always likely to leave anyway, and they did well to get a fee rising to £73.7m, and the coveted Xavi Simons, who never looked like a Leipzig lifer, could be another exit, with strong links to Chelsea. The PSV Eindhoven winger Johan Bakayoko may be perhaps their most exciting arrival but so far this summer Leipzig have only been outspent by Leverkusen, who have still made a huge profit.

open image in gallery

Jarell Quansah joined Bayer Leverkusen from Liverpool this summer (Getty Images)

There was a symbolic departure in Yussuf Poulsen, Leipzig’s record appearance-maker, who joined promoted Hamburg. Two of German football’s giants returned to the top flight, Koln after one season, Hamburg after seven in exile in the 2. Bundesliga. Their reward is a derby later this month with St Pauli, a fixture rarely played in the upper tier.

Hamburg were just the second German club to win the European Cup. In September, they visit the first, Bayern, clubs with vast fanbases at the opposite end of the country, clashing as both equals and unequals. Hamburg could be part of a competitive relegation battle, just as the squabble for Champions League and Europa League qualification could be closely contested. That is part of German football’s appeal. The downside, too often since 2012, has been one-sided title races. The danger is that, with the supporting cast hobbled in the summer, this is another.