Stats & Links: Champions in April

End of April and FC Bayern are crowned Bundesliga champion. In this weeks edition we’re looking back to the past and look at which point Munich were officially declared German champions.

Maurice

April 30, 2017

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bundesliga

fc bayern

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After the disappointing 2-2 draw against relegation candidate Mainz 05 at the Allianz Arena, some Bayern fans were maybe a little frightened about jeopardising the championship – the fifth in a row. Leipzig could close the gap to six points with a win against Schalke, although the direct duel on the 33rd game day in Leipzig is hanging above the whole season like the sword of Damocles.

However, as Leipzig only drew the match against the Europa League quarter-finalist after an initial lead, Bayern had an eight point advantage with four games remaining. With a highligh performance in Wolfsburg and Leipzig dropping points against Ingolstadt, Bayern sealed the title on the 31st game day.

Time to look back at the past years, when Bayern were already confirmed as champions much earlier. In the last four champions only once they haven’t been champions after the 30th game day, namely last year.

Season	Secured title on game day	Points end of season	Point difference to second place
2012/13	28.	91	25
2013/14	27.	90	19
2014/15	30.	79	10
2015/16	33.	88	10
2016/17 (projection)	31.	80	11

The earliest Bundesliga title in history was achieved by Pep Guardiola and his eleven in the first year of his tenure on the 27th game day of the season. After a 3-1 win in Berlin (Goals: Kroos, Götze, Ribery) Bayern, mostly wearing long-sleeve shirts, were champions at the end of March. It was the 25th win in the 27th game and only strong rotation from Guardiola after the game in the capital led to the team narrowly missing out on the points-record (91) from the previous season.

Said season was previously the earliest championship of all time. After the now legendary back-hell goal by Bastian Schweinsteiger for a 1-0 win in Frankfurt, Dante could lift a cardboard punnet in Frankfurt’s evening sky on the 28th game day.

**Schweinsteiger’s game winning goal against Frankfurt made Bayern the champion on the 28th game day.**
(Photo by Alex Grimm/Bongarts/Getty Images)

In the 2014/2015 season Bayern were champions on their couches on the 30th game day through a 0-1 loss from Wolfsburg against Gladbach on a Sunday. The day before Munich defeated Berlin 1-0 and increased the gap to 15 points over the Wolves. In that season 79 points were enough for Bayern to win the Bundesliga, the least amount during the four titles. With the current points per game average of the 2016/2017 season Bayern are on course for 80 points.

Are the opponents weaker than usual? Not at all. Leipzig would finish the season with a projected 69 points – three more than BVB in the treble season or as many points as Wolfsburg two years ago. The projected 11 point gap between first and second place are in line with the usual mark of the previous seasons.