Who is Nick Woltemade?

The 23-year-old striker, who has been nicknamed the “two-meter Messi-Musiala” by Stuttgart fans, has burst onto the scene in the last year. The combination of his size and skill as a striker makes for a rare player type in the modern era, which is perhaps part of the reason why there has been such interest in a forward who only really started playing regular Bundesliga football last season.

Woltemade scored 17 goals in all competitions last time out, including a goal in the German Cup final that helped the Bundesliga club win the trophy. His performance in the U21 European Championship this summer saw his stock rise even further as Woltemade scored a hat trick against Slovenia in the group stage and led Germany to a second-place finish. He is in the latest Germany squad and will hope to play a big role in their World Cup qualifying campaign.

Woltemade was a Werder Bremen youth player, before he got a chance in the first team. A loan move to Elversberg proved beneficial as the striker helped them achieve promotion to the second division, but it wasn’t until last season that the big forward emerged as one of the most exciting young strikers in European football.

Didn’t Bayern Munich want to sign him?

They absolutely did, but Stuttgart reportedly turned down two bids as they were not happy with what the record champions were offering. The Bundesliga side Stuttgart look clear winners here, rewarded for their patience in the transfer market by receiving a reported €85 million ($99 million) fee for the striker. The fee would set a new record received transfer fee in Stuttgart’s history, and is another miss in a summer of disappointments for Bayern Munich.

Bayern, who have made a strong start to the domestic season, also missed out on Florian Wirtz, who joined Liverpool instead this summer. With the club always keen to be home to the best German players, missing out on both Wirtz and Woltemade will likely be a jolt to the system. Wirtz would have been a superb signing given his great connection with Jamal Musiala in the national team, but in a country where the lack of big, talented strikers in recent years has been well documented, missing out on Woltemade will likely also hurt.

“Bayern Munich are very, very attractive, and we notice that whenever we talk to players,” Bayern Munich sporting director Christoph Freund said after the Woltemade news broke.

“The [financial] possibilities they have in the Premier Leagure are brutal, not just two or three clubs but many clubs. Newcastle is a good club, but it’s not a top-tier team. It’s extreme.” 

Is this a good move?

If Woltemade can get enough game time, then it looks a great move for the young striker. Germany head coach Julian Nagelsmann recently bemoaned some of the summer transfers because it meant his players were not playing enough. If Woltemade can emerge as the leading striker at Newcastle, a club that is reportedly interested in securing another striker this summer, then it will not only be hugely beneficial to his development but will almost certainly secure him a spot in Germany’s World Cup squad.

With fellow Germany hopeful Malick Thiaw another recent signing at Newcastle United and former Bundesliga player Joelinton now well established at the Premier League club, Woltemade will have teammates who can quickly help him find his feet.

How many Bundesliga players have joined the Premier League?

From Jens Lehmann and Michael Ballack back in the earlier 2000s, Kevin de Bruyne, Son Heung-min, Roberto Firmino, Ilkay Gündogan and Leroy Sane a decade later, and Jadon Sancho, Kai Havertz, and Erling Haaland more recently, there is a long history of Bundesliga players leaving for the Premier League.

This summer has been particularly busy though. Before Woltemade’s move, a quartet of Leverkusen players left for England’s top flight. Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong joined Liverpool, while Amine Adli signed for Bournemouth and Granit Xhaka moved to Sunderland.

Elsewhere, Mathys Tel and Joao Palhinha joined Tottenham from Bayern Munich (the latter on loan). Borussia Dortmund sold Jamie Gittens to Chelsea, Frankfurt made headline news by selling Hugo Ekitike to Liverpool just six months after Omar Marmoush left for Manchester City. Benjamin Sesko was another big-money move this summer, leaving RB Leipzig for Manchester United, and Leipzig teammate Xavi Simons is reportedly also on the verge of leaving, with Tottenham his apparent destination.

There have however been a few players who have moved the other way this summer. Luis Diaz joined Bayern Munich, Jarell Quansah signed for Leverkusen, while Jobe Bellingham and Camey Chukwuemeka both moved to Borussia Dortmund.

Edited by: Chuck Penfold

A dissident Belarusian sports official who went missing in Turkey is believed to have traveled to Sochi in Russia, DW can reveal.

Anatol Kotau, the former secretary general of the Belarusian Olympic Committee, was last heard from shortly after arriving in Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, on August 21.

While Kotau’s wife and colleagues fear he was abducted, reports in the Turkish media claimed that Kotau flew to Trabzon, on Turkey’s Black Sea coast, on the same day he landed in Istanbul.

DW has now discovered that Kotau left Turkey for Sochi, the southwestern Russian port city, on a private yacht that was waiting for him when he arrived in Trabzon.

A Turkish police source in Trabzon said there were “no problems” with Kotau and the people accompanying him, and that “nothing seemed wrong” with his travel documents.

Previously, Turkish police told DW they had no record of Kotau’s disappearance in their systems, despite his wife filing a missing persons report electronically on August 25. The police source said there would be no reason for them to investigate once Kotau had left the country.

No signs of ‘depression or crisis’

Kotau is one of the founding members of the Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation (BSSF), which was created in 2020 to support Belarusian athletes who oppose the country’s authoritarian leader, Alexander Lukashenko. 

His missing persons report, which has been seen by DW, details phone messages between him and his wife on the day of his disappearance on August 21.

At 12.26 p.m. Polish time, Kotau writes that he has landed at Istanbul Airport. His wife then asks him where he is staying. Just under two hours later, he replies: “I’ll send it when I know.”

His last contact is said to be at 9.28 p.m. Polish time; a hotel address was never sent.

BSSF Director Alexander Opeikin told DW that Kotau’s behavior had been “usual” before his trip to Istanbul, which was due to last two to three days. “There were no signals about any depression or any crisis in his life,” Opeikin said.

Kotau active in Belarusian opposition circles

As part of their work, Kotau and the BSSF also successfully pushed for Belarus to be stripped of hosting international sports competitions, most notably the 2021 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. Hockey is Lukashenko’s favorite sport.

The 45-year-old Kotau’s political activism saw him sentenced to 12 years in prison in absentia in July 2024, on charges including “conspiracy to seize power” and “promoting extremist activities.”

“Anatol was responsible for strong actions against Lukashenko’s regime,” Pavel Latushka, a prominent Belarusian opposition politician, told DW. “He was a high-level official, [so] in Lukashenko’s eyes he must look like a traitor.

“The regime is waging an open, systemic, large-scale war without any restrictions against democratic institutions and democratic activists abroad. Lukashenko’s hands are already everywhere. It doesn’t matter where the Belarusians are. He persecutes them even abroad.”

BSSF: Kotau also wanted by Russia

In posts on social media, the BSSF said that Kotau had traveled to Istanbul “on professional matters,” understood to be unrelated to the BSSF and his day job with a Polish events agency, although he was also known to be involved with other Belarusian opposition groups.

Opeikin said he didn’t know whom Kotau was intending to meet in Turkey.

“I’m really concerned,” Opeikin said. “We are very close on many projects. He’s a great defender of athletes’ rights and a real political figure on the Belarusian political stage.”

According to the BSSF, Kotau is on wanted lists in both Belarus and Russia, which has relied on Lukashenko’s support for its war in Ukraine. The organization wrote that this raised “serious concerns about his safety and potential political persecution.”

However, the latest developments also raise the possibility that Kotau may have left Turkey voluntarily or under some kind of coercion. Last month, the Belarusian secret service, the KGB, made several attempts to recruit seven opposition figures using money or blackmail, Latuskha said.

Like many Belarusian exiles, Kotau was living with his wife and young son in the Polish capital, Warsaw, where he has refugee status.

The Polish consulate in Istanbul referred a query from DW to the Polish foreign ministry, which said that it was aware of the matter, but that “unfortunately, no additional information can be provided to the media.”

‘Day of reckoning will come’

The risks to exiled Belarusian dissidents and activists are spelled out in a recent KGB propaganda video.

It shows a man being led down the steps of an airplane, where he is handed over to two masked KGB agents. A voiceover warns that this should serve as an example to others — the man, Pavel Belyutin, is accused of trying to overthrow the government — before a KGB official appears, saying: “The day of reckoning will come.”

Comparing a still image from the video with other photos, independent Belarusian media believe Belyutin was snatched at Istanbul Airport, which DW wasn’t able to verify. However, it may give a clue to Kotau’s fate.

“It’s really dangerous for political activists who go to these countries,” Opeikin said. “I think he knew this risk, but he had already been to Turkey many times. This time something happened, and we don’t know what.”

DW has reached out to the Belarusian authorities for comment on the case.

Halil Taskin in Istanbul contributed to this report. 

Edited by: Chuck Penfold

North America is a completely different sporting environment from Europe – a fact that hasn’t been lost on the continent’s newest superstar, Thomas Müller of the Vancouver Whitecaps.

“Here in North America, I know that the playoffs are much more important than the regular season, so we are hoping we can get on a run of form at just the right time and once again electrify the soccer fans of Vancouver,” Müller told DW in a media roundtable this week.

The “once again” referred to 1979, the last time the Whitecaps were North American champions.

On the pitch, he could hardly have got off to a better start. Having had a cracker of a goal called back for offside on his debut in a 1-1 draw against Houston, Müller scored the winner from the penalty spot on the final whistle to give the Whitecaps a crucial victory over St. Louis in his first start in blue and white – while wearing the captain’s armband.

Double-edged sword

Beyond the field of play, Müller admitted he is still adjusting to life in British Columbia, but that he was determined to integrate himself as quickly as possible. This makes the presence of former Hamburg defender Sebastian Schonlau in the squad something of a double-edged sword. While mindful of the need to avoid falling into his “comfort zone” of speaking German with his compatriot, Müller also admits that “maybe it’s good to be able to run my jokes past someone who understands them.” 

“I still have to translate one or two jokes into Canadian-English,” he added.

Half a century of history

While North America’s soccer history is nothing compared to that of Bayern Munich or plenty of other European clubs, it does exist. Most of the world may have heard about the Whitecaps for the first time in the past few weeks, but they have been around for more than half a century.

The Whitecaps are one of just four Major League Soccer teams to have carried their original name from mid 1970s, through to today, the others being the Seattle Sounders, the Portland Timbers and the San Jose Earthquakes.

Legally, the Whitecaps are not the same entity as the North American Soccer League (NASL) champions of 1979. However, one can trace the current club back to the NASL Whitecaps, founded in 1973, through to the MLS Whitecaps – particularly through key personalities. Bob Lenarduzzi was the club’s president when it joined MLS in 2011, and Carl Valentine is now a club ambassador. Both were members of the 1979 Soccer Bowl-winning team.

Homework done

Asked what he knew about the Whitecaps history, Thomas Müller confirmed that he had indeed met both men and done his homework back home in Munich.

“I watched a documentary about the club’s history. It was only about 20 minutes long, but I learned about the great story of 1979 and how “the village” relished the chance to stick it to the Big Apple [the Whitecaps beat the New York Cosmos in the semifinals],” Müller told DW.

The “village” refers to what was taken by Vancouverites as a derogatory remark about their city by an American TV reporter in the opening sequence to the Soccer Bowl broadcast.

“I can tell you that Vancouver is certainly not just a village,” Müller said. “Vancouver is now a city with a strong profile internationally.”

‘This is Canada, not the USA’

If there had been any doubt about Müller’s commitment to his new team, this had already been erased in his first answer of the video call.

“Stop, stop!” Müller said.

“Canada, this is Canada, not the USA,” he stressed after a reporter had referred to him as being located in the United States.

It was a response that would have warmed the heart of any Canadian football fan, particularly at a time when the country is mired in an unsolicited trade war with its southern neighbor – whose president repeatedly states his intention to annex the Great White North.

Eye on the prize

Soon, Müller hopes to do more than warm the hearts of Whitecaps fans. As the winner of the 2014 World Cup, the Champions League and 13  Bundesliga titles (the most of any player), Müller is focused on bringing the main prize to Vancouver – it would be the club’s first MLS Cup.

For now though, Müller, who – once the deal was done earlier this month – left Germany at the drop of a hat, is planning to use the upcoming international break to return to Munich to pick up some more clothes.

“Then I’ll be ready for the final stretch of the season.”

Edited by: Jonathan Harding

Who is hosting?

Following on from the last three editions, four nations will joint host the 2025 European championship of basketball. EuroBasket, as it is commonly known, is to be played in Cyprus, Poland, Finland and Latvia this year.

Cyprus hosts for the first time, as the sport looks to capitalize on the increased number of Europeans playing in the world’s most watched league, the National Basketball Association. Ukraine were set to be one of the four hosts before Poland stepped in. In January 2022, the word from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office was that hosting the tournament was one of his top priorities. A month later, Russia invaded.

All four nations host the group stage, with the top four teams from each of the four groups of six progressing to the knockouts. That stage will be held entirely in Riga, Latvia. The tournament starts on August 27 and runs until the final on September 14.

Does it matter in the context of basketball?

Politically, there will also be eyes on Israel’s participation at the tournament given the Israeli army’s prolonged military offensive in Gaza. Last year, Ireland’s women basketball team refused to shake hands with Israel’s women.

The tournament itself has been running in some shape or another for 90 years, so it has long been a part of basketball’s wider landscape. There’s also a long list of great upsets that this competition has provided, including Italy beating Serbia in the last edition and Germany’s Cinderella run to the title in 1993.

Viewing figures from the 2022 edition suggest this competition is an increasingly popular one for basketball fans on the continent. Spain’s final victory over France three years ago was watched by 3.75 million people in Spain, with all of the decisive games shown on free-to-air channels in the all four countries of the semifinalists. Around 4 million watched Germany’s semifinal against Spain.

While these numbers cannot be compared with those of the NBA playoffs — last season’s playoffs averaged just over 6 million viewers per game — they are nevertheless a sign basketball’s growth in Europe has not stagnated.

On the court, with all 24 teams at this year’s EuroBasket already qualified for the World Cup in 2027 — the competition which will determine some of the teams playing in Los Angeles at the Summer Olympics in 2028 — this is about national pride. It’s also about pushing basketball to new shores — see Cyprus hosting for the first time — and reminding anyone on the other side of the Atlantic how strong the continent is at basketball.

Are any NBA stars playing at EuroBasket?

Nikola Jokic, three-time MVP winner and Serbia’s superstar, is front and center at this tournament. The man many consider the best player in the world is on a mission to deliver a title that has evaded him. At the last EuroBasket, not even a strong display by Jokic could stop Serbia being upset by Italy in the round of 16.

Greece’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Slovenia’s Luka Doncic will also be on the floor, aiming to bring glory to their countries. Germany’s hopes rest on the shoulders of Dennis Schröder and Franz Wagner.

Notable absentees include France’s Victor Wembanyama, Rudy Gobert, Lithuania’s Domantas Sabonis as well as Germany’s Moritz Wagner, Isaiah Hartenstein and Maxi Kleber.

Is European basketball different from the NBA?

Yes. FIBA, the international basketball federation, has rules for its tournaments that are different to those in the NBA.

There are a few technical differences, but the most important ones to remember are that EuroBasket games are shorter — there are four 10-minute quarters (the NBA has four 12-minute quarters), and the three-point line is slightly closer in EuroBasket than in the NBA. 

There are also different rules in terms of fouls and timeouts. All of this makes the margins even smaller, and increases the importance of each possession and means that sometimes the pace of FIBA games is faster.

Who are the favorites to win EuroBasket?

Serbia are the highest seed going in, and are the heavy favorites. They won bronze at the Olympics in Paris, and they have 10 players who know the NBA. With Jokic and Bogdan Bogdanovic driving the team, their expectation is clearly to win gold.

France are weakened by the absence of star-man Wembanyama, who is opting out to continue his recovery head of the NBA season, but with a host of young stars they are keen to show just how deep the quality of French basketball goes.

Spain are the defending champions, but their golden generation is no more. The Hernangomez brothers will be key, but they may struggle to keep their remarkable run of medaling in every EuroBasket since 2007 going.

Turkey are perhaps the ones to watch, with Alperen Sengun of the Houston Rockets leading their charge. And then there’s Germany.

Do Germany genuinely have a chance?

The team who spectacularly won the World Championship in 2023 are a bit older and somewhat changed, notably at head coach where former Spain player Alex Mumbru has taken over from Gordon Herbert (now coaching at Bayern Munich). Wagner and Schröder are expected to lead the way, but the likes of Tristan da Silva, Daniel Theis and Isaac Bonga are also likely to play key roles. Germany have become a real force in international basketball in recent years and they will expect to be in the final four again.

With average attendance in the basketball Bundesliga at an all-time high last season, Germany’s women winning gold in the 3×3 basketball in Paris and increased fan support following the joint hosting of EuroBasket 2022, German basketball is enjoying a rich spell of success. In short, they absolutely have a chance at the title.

Edited by: Chuck Penfold

Olympic refugee swimmer Alaa Maso had never planned to come to Germany. But close to 10 years after first arriving along with about 1.2 million other asylum seekers as Germany opened its doors amid a migration crisis, it is a country he is now hoping to make his permanent home.

“I don’t believe that home is where you grew up or where you were born,” Maso told DW in a recent interview at his training base in Hanover. “I just believe that home is wherever you feel yourself at home. You’re given that feeling by the people surrounding you.”

Back in 2015, with his native Syria in the full throes of civil war, Maso had little choice but to leave if he wanted to pursue a career in swimming.

Hailing from Aleppo, a major battleground in the war, he was going for months on end without training.

“It always had to depend on how safe the situation was and what the priorities were,” he said.

And so, together with older brother, Mo, he took the long and arduous journey to Europe via Turkey.

Civil war slowed career

The brothers had originally intended to settle in the Netherlands with some other family members.

But because they had been fingerprinted while transiting through Germany, European Union rules meant their asylum applications had to be processed here.

Since then, it has been a case of making up for lost time, even though the 25-year-old Maso prefers not to dwell on the past. But there is no hiding the fact that the civil war held back his budding career.

“It’s never possible to replace such damage,” he said.

“The four years in which I was not able to train are some of the most important years in the life of a swimmer. It’s where you put in the basics, the groundwork for everything that’s coming in the future.”

Immigrants ‘can reach their goals’

Maso was four years old when his father taught him to swim. Later inspired by Michael Phelps and his eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games, he resolved to one day compete at the Olympics himself.

“From that day on I wanted to be there,” Maso said. “I knew that it’s a stage that every swimmer would love to be on.”

Maso’s wish was granted in 2021, when he was picked to represent the Olympic refugee team at the Tokyo Games. The refugee team first appeared at the Rio Games in 2016 after the International Olympic Committee decided to give displaced people an opportunity to compete when they otherwise would have been unable to because of their situation.

In a moment that went viral on social media, Maso embraced his brother at the Tokyo opening ceremony. Despite their journey together to Germany, Mo was competing in the triathlon for Syria.

“It’s only because he had better connections with the Syrian federation than I did,” Maso said. “I don’t see it as a political position or support for any side in Syria.”

While Mo has since retired, Alaa competed for the refugee team in Paris. But a year on, in 2025, injury forced him to withdraw from the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.

After the fall of Bashar Assad in late 2024, Maso resumed conversations with the Syrian swimming federation about representing the country, but no decision has been made. Despite the regime change, he doesn’t foresee returning to the country, which is still in some turmoil, to live again.

In fact, Maso has applied to become a German citizen. His application has received strong support, including a letter from former Lower Saxony Premier Stephan Weil, recognizing Alaa’s contributions — particularly his role in supporting the integration of fellow refugees through sport and community work.

Political plan for integration

Integration is a topic to which Maso has given much thought, at a time of simmering anti-immigrant sentiment in Germany.  That sentiment was confirmed by Germany’s federal election in February 2025, when the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party took second place, with 20.8% of the vote.

Maso initially hesitated to wade into the political debate months ahead of that election, before eloquently outlining what he thinks needs to happen.

“Some workshops have to be done for new refugees to try to install [in them] the new culture they are trying to enter,” he said.

“I’m not saying people are supposed to let go of their culture or their background, but [you should] also try to integrate into the new society you are trying to live in.

“That, for me, is a crucial way of helping people with different backgrounds than the German and European backgrounds to adapt and get a glimpse of how it’s going to be for the next 10 years. Because nobody comes here to live for one or two years. You’re trying to build a new life, and that’s going to be a very long process.”

AfD leader Alice Weidel, has not shied away from calling for “large-scale repatriations” of those who have arrived in Germany from elsewhere. “And I have to be honest with you: if it’s going to be called remigration, then that’s what it’s going to be: remigration,” she said at a party conference just before the election.

Though Germany’s other major parties have historically resisted working with the far right since World War Two, that so-called “firewall” has weakened in recent years. If a plan such as Weidel suggested were ever to come to fruition, Maso could be forced out of the country if he hasn’t received citizenship. However, he insists he isn’t scared.

“I know that no matter how big the party is or how many seats each party has, they cannot decide everything on their own,” he said. “That’s the good thing about Europe and democracy in Europe. Just because you’re the ruling party, you’re not able to do anything you want.”

Despite the difficult political climate, Maso is upbeat about his own future. Should he be successful in becoming a citizen, would he like to compete for Germany, his adopted country?

“I would totally be OK with that,” he said.

This article was originally published on July 7, 2024. It was updated on August 25, 2025 to reflect political changes in Syria and Alaa Maso’s immigration status. An earlier version of this article referred to Stefan Weil as Lower Saxony premier. This has been updated to reflect the fact that he stepped down as premier in May 2025.
Dana Sumlaji contributed to this report. 

Edited by Chuck Penfold 

“We wanted to send a statement from the first game at home and that’s what we did today,” said Harry Kane, who scored a hat trick as Bayern Munich hammered RB Leipzig 6-0 on the first day of the 2025-26 Bundesliga season. Given that Bayern were last season’s champions and Kane was top scorer, the message rang out loud and clear across Germany on Friday.

Come Saturday, the chasing pack had the chance to show they have what it takes to stop the Bavarian club from winning a 14th title out of the last 15. Of the three clubs that bookmakers expect to join Bayern in the top four, Bayer Leverkusen, the only club to break Bayern’s streak with an unprecedented unbeaten campaign in 2023-24, lost at home to Hoffenheim. Borussia Dortmund, the team who won it before the streak started, led 3-1 after 85 minutes only to fall to a draw against St. Pauli. The final side were RB Leipzig themselves.

“We’re definitely making it harder than we need to,” Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel said. “It‘s certainly not what we imagined.”

The Bundesliga’s lack of competition at the top has long been a criticism of Germany’s top flight. It has also hindered it on a broader stage, both in sporting and commercial terms. The last German side other than Bayern to win the Champions League was Dortmund 28 years ago. Since then, England’s Premier League and Spain’s La Liga have secured huge foreign TV rights deals that have allowed top sides from those countries to spend big on players that German sides outside of Bayern could not afford. Consequently, English or Spanish sides have won 10 of the last 12 Champions League titles.

Content creators now part of the Bundesliga

The DFL, which operates the Bundesliga, attempted to negotiate a €1 billion ($1.17 billion) investment deal with a private equity partner last year, only for fan protests to win out and the deal to be pulled. The main nature of the fans’ objection to the deal, which would have seen the investor own a stake in the league, was the overcommercialization of football, something rejected much more vehemently in Germany than any other top European league.

Just days ahead of the new season, the DFL announced a new strategy for the broadcast market in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Though deals with traditional broadcasters cover most of the matches, it was the decision to award streaming rights to two YouTube channels, including That’s Football, run by Mark Goldbridge, who made his name hosting “watchalongs” (where fans watch a content creator watching a match) on a Manchester United YouTube channel. Those watchalongs will now feature live footage for 10 games of the Bundesliga season.

“Our approach is as diverse as our supporters,” Peer Naubert, chief executive officer of Bundesliga International, said earlier this week. According to the DFL, this is the “first time ever a top league will grant live rights for an extensive package of matches to content creators in Europe.”

The theory goes that younger fans consume the sport in nontraditional ways. Rather than watching a match live at the stadium or on TV, they use watchalongs, social media clips, video games or interact with their favorite players on social media.

Bundesliga courts a new global generation

It is a bold move from the DFL. Essentially, the league is gambling that pioneering such an approach will help steal a march on the other top European leagues, particularly the Premier League, in an attempt to somewhat redress the balance.

It’s unlikely that this move will close a gap in foreign TV rights deals between the leagues, which stood at nearly €3 billion last season, but it might, the DFL hopes, win over a new generation of global fans who consume football in a different way.

The clash of cultures with the traditional matchgoing fan is clear. Germany’s fan culture, partly thanks to the 50+1 rule, which enshrines majority member-ownership of clubs, is stronger than in England, Spain, Italy or France — which, along with the Bundesliga, are widely considered Europe’s top five leagues. The rule means that clubs are much more accountable to their fans in terms of sponsorship deals, ticket prices or the matchday experience. Even Bayern have recently climbed down in their sponsorship deal with Rwanda after fan pressure.

At the moment, the rights in the United Kingdom and Ireland are not as much of a concern to those fans as last year’s proposed deal, which would have seen the investor take 8% of all league revenues, including broadcast, over 20 years.

Though top-level football has moved away from prioritzing the local fan in the stadium to courting international fans on social media, the hope of many of the former group is that the game itself is a fundamental part of the appeal. And for the Bundesliga, a lack of competitiveness at the top will undermine the product, regardless of how it’s packaged.

That said, the aborted breakaway European Super League — proposed in 2021 and notably rejected by Bayern and Dortmund but embraced initially by others — was based on the appeal of selected top clubs playing each other over and over again, as is the newly revamped Club World Cup.

It should be far too early to draw any conclusions about Bayern’s retaining the title. But perhaps, outside of Munich and Germany, it’s not that important anyway.

Edited by: Karl Sexton