Bayer Leverkusen Completes Unprecedented Unbeaten Bundesliga Season, Cologne Relegated

Bayer Leverkusen's Spanish head coach Xabi Alonso celebrates with the Bundesliga trophy after the German first division Bundesliga football match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and FC Augsburg in Leverkusen, western Germany on May 18, 2024. (AFP)
Bayer Leverkusen's Spanish head coach Xabi Alonso celebrates with the Bundesliga trophy after the German first division Bundesliga football match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and FC Augsburg in Leverkusen, western Germany on May 18, 2024. (AFP)
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Bayer Leverkusen Completes Unprecedented Unbeaten Bundesliga Season, Cologne Relegated

Bayer Leverkusen's Spanish head coach Xabi Alonso celebrates with the Bundesliga trophy after the German first division Bundesliga football match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and FC Augsburg in Leverkusen, western Germany on May 18, 2024. (AFP)
Bayer Leverkusen's Spanish head coach Xabi Alonso celebrates with the Bundesliga trophy after the German first division Bundesliga football match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and FC Augsburg in Leverkusen, western Germany on May 18, 2024. (AFP)

League champion Bayer Leverkusen became the first team to complete a Bundesliga season undefeated on Saturday.

Early goals from Victor Boniface and Robert Andrich gave Leverkusen a 2-1 win over Augsburg in their last game of the season.

The win was their 28th in 34 Bundesliga games.

Leverkusen, which won the title in April to end Bayern Munich’s 11-year run, is the first team to complete an unbeaten season in any of Europe’s top five leagues since Juventus in the Italian Serie A in 2011-12.

Leverkusen hasn’t lost a game in any competition all season, a 51-game unbeaten run.

It had a firm grip on Augsburg but Mert Kömür pulled one back in the 62nd minute, prompting Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso to send on Florian Wirtz and Granit Xhaka, the star players he’d been trying to rest before the Europa League and German Cup finals next week.

Local rival Cologne was relegated. Cologne's hopes of avoiding the drop evaporated in a 4-1 loss at Heidenheim.

Janik Haberer scored in stoppage time for Union Berlin to clinch survival with a 2-1 win over Freiburg. Union’s win meant Bochum dropped into the relegation playoff place after losing at Werder Bremen 4-1.

Stuttgart finished second at Bayern Munich’s expense with a 4-0 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach, while Bayern slumped to a 4-2 loss at Hoffenheim in Thomas Tuchel’s last game as coach.

Mainz ensured its survival with a 3-1 win at Wolfsburg.



Hamburg Fires Steffen Baumgart as Coach after Five Games without a Win

08 November 2024, Lower Saxony, Brunswick: Hamburg coach Steffen Baumgart gives an interview before the German Bundesliga 2 soccer match between Eintracht Braunschweig and Hamburger SV. (dpa)
08 November 2024, Lower Saxony, Brunswick: Hamburg coach Steffen Baumgart gives an interview before the German Bundesliga 2 soccer match between Eintracht Braunschweig and Hamburger SV. (dpa)
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Hamburg Fires Steffen Baumgart as Coach after Five Games without a Win

08 November 2024, Lower Saxony, Brunswick: Hamburg coach Steffen Baumgart gives an interview before the German Bundesliga 2 soccer match between Eintracht Braunschweig and Hamburger SV. (dpa)
08 November 2024, Lower Saxony, Brunswick: Hamburg coach Steffen Baumgart gives an interview before the German Bundesliga 2 soccer match between Eintracht Braunschweig and Hamburger SV. (dpa)

Former Bundesliga heavyweight Hamburger SV has fired Steffen Baumgart as coach after five games without a win across all competitions.

The second-division club said Sunday it was letting Baumgart go because of a “crisis of performances and results” after the team’s 2-2 draw at home with Schalke on Saturday.

That left Hamburg eighth in the 18-team division, four points behind early leader Paderborn after 13 rounds.

“Steffen gave everything with great passion, energy and commitment right up to the end for HSV. However, our analysis of the current situation and yesterday’s game has once again made it clear that we believe a new impetus is necessary,” Hamburg sporting director Stefan Kuntz said.

The club said Baumgart, who was a Hamburg fan as a child, took the news “calmly” on Sunday morning.

“It was an exciting and very intense time,” the former Cologne coach said. “I remain connected to the club and hope that HSV achieves its goals.”

Hamburg has been bidding to return to the Bundesliga since its demotion from the top flight in 2018. It had been the only ever-present team in the league since it was founded in 1963, earning the nickname “der Dino.”

But every season since relegation has ended in disappointment. Hamburg rival St. Pauli was promoted last season to add to Hamburg fans’ woes.

Baumgart, a former Hansa Rostock and Union Berlin forward, took over as Hamburg coach in February, when the team was third, but ultimately it was unable to improve and finished fourth – one place behind Fortuna Düsseldorf in the promotion playoff spot.

Hamburg said Baumgart’s assistants Rene Wagner and Kevin McKenna were also let go, and that assistant coach Merlin Polzin will prepare the team for its next game at Karlsruher SC.

There was no mention of a permanent successor.