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Anyone who hasn’t behaved properly throughout the year doesn’t get presents at Christmas, but a rod instead – or so children are told all year long. But what if Santa Claus used the behavior of Bundesliga pros on the green pitch as the standard for how full the sack of gifts would be? Who would have all their wishes granted – and who would only deserve the rod? Let’s take a look at the Fair Play ranking after Matchday 15.

Two Clubs Almost Flawless

Two teams can look forward to plenty of surprises under the Christmas tree, as they haven’t received a single sending-off so far. Frankfurt and Leipzig collected 23 (SGE) and 24 (RB) yellow cards respectively, but otherwise kept their records clean.

According to the fairness table from ‘transfermarkt.de’, the teams from Mönchengladbach, Breisgau, and Sinsheim can also expect a few, though slightly fewer, gifts. The Foals from the Lower Rhine picked up 20 yellow cards and just one red – and that was a straight red. SC Freiburg has 19 yellows, one double yellow (yellow-red), and one straight red card, while TSG Hoffenheim hasn’t had a single sending-off but has accumulated a total of 28 yellow cards.

Right behind VfL Wolfsburg in sixth place are the basement dwellers from Heidenheim and Hamburg. FC St. Pauli and FCH each received one red card, though the Kiezkicker have one more yellow. Köln shows similar numbers, but one extra warning drops FC to seventh place. 

Bayern Not Even on Course for Europe

Kompany’s Munich side, in contrast to their position in the Bundesliga table for what feels like the last hundred weeks, are surprisingly far down in the Fairness ranking. No player from the star ensemble saw red before Christmas, but with 33 yellow cards, the record champions have collected the fourth most cautions in the league. That’s only enough for an unfamiliar tenth place in the Fair Play ranking.

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Hot on their heels is VfB Stuttgart with 29 yellows and one red card. Borussia Dortmund also shows that success sometimes comes with a hard fight: the robust Kovac squad sits in eleventh place with two straight red cards, followed by Bayer Leverkusen and Hamburger SV. The promoted team from the north received the most yellow-red cards in the league – four in total.

Union Berlin occupies the last safe non-relegation spot in the Fairness ranking at 15th place.

The Bullies of the League

The rod is waiting under the Christmas tree for the three remaining clubs. Werder Bremen hasn’t received a straight red card yet, but has collected four yellow-reds and 34 yellow cards. In 17th place is FC Augsburg, who by far have the most cautions: 42 yellow cards and one sending-off after a yellow-red.

And somehow it had to be this way: whoever takes the red lantern of the regular Bundesliga table into the Christmas break also ends up at the very bottom of the Fairness ranking.

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Bottom-of-the-table Mainz 05 also loses out here by a wide margin. In addition to 33 yellow cards, they have one yellow-red and a whopping four (!) straight red cards. Incidentally, the league’s worst card offender is not – as one might expect – Dominik Kohr. The 05er is, for once, “only” in second place. Teammate Paul Nebel has already received two straight red cards, putting him at the top of the players’ unfairness table.

By the way, most straight red cards were given to midfielders and defenders. According to ‘transfermarkt.de’, Bundesliga referees handed out a total of 526 cards – that’s an average of 1.22 cards per player.

Are you surprised by your team’s position in the Fairness table? Feel free to let us know in the comments. 

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

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