The Bundesliga is the most important sporting competition in Germany.

It makes sure that we want to go to the sports field as children, where we not only learn about the game but also about life.

It ensures that we continue to get into this game later as adults - sometimes together with people with whom we no longer have anything in common.

She ensures that we can distract ourselves from the madness of the world for at least 90 minutes at the weekend.

She even makes sure that we are most likely able to handle the small talk in the canteen queue when we say: Hey, Bavarians again!

Christopher Meltzer

Sports correspondent in Munich.

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As often as the good old Bundesliga has helped us, we should now help it.

If only out of self-interest.

Because the competition, which is so important for us football fans, is no longer a competition in its most essential decision.

This Saturday, April 23, 2022, FC Bayern Munich, the Bundesliga monopolist, won the championship again with a 3-1 win over Borussia Dortmund.

Like 2013 (with a 25 point lead) and 2014 (19) and 2015 (10) and 2016 (10) and 2017 (15) and 2018 (21) and 2019 (2; Niko Kovač effect) and 2020 (13) and 2021 (13).

This is what a decade in the Bayern league looks like in numbers.

The numbers man Christian Seifert, who as managing director of the German Football League (DFL) was responsible for marketing the Bundesliga from 2005 to 2021, said in a “Spiegel” interview: “If things continued like this in the next few years, I would think do.” The interview was published in March 2014.

Now, eight years later, with children playing on the sports fields who only know one champion, even fans from Munich might be asking themselves: How often do we want to get into this league?

How many more times do we want to distract ourselves with this league?

How often do we want to say: Mei, Bayern again?

We must and will immediately give more thought to it - but before that, at least for a moment, applaud the main actors who have performed historical events.

The managers Uli Hoeneß and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

The coaches Jupp Heynckes, Pep Guardiola and Hansi Flick.

The players Philipp Lahm, Thomas Müller and Manuel Neuer.

They gave us great games with FC Bayern – and, even if that was certainly not their intention, they robbed the game of great things at the same time: the excitement, the uncertainty, the chance.

It can't really be a coincidence that Bayern won their tenth championship in a row this Saturday against Borussia Dortmund.

This is the club that beat them in 2011 and 2012 under the rousing coach Jurgen Klopp, who without Klopp still wants to beat them but who can't beat them anymore.

As if the football gods had yelled in our faces: Don't you guys check it out?

We should check it out this Saturday at the latest.

And that would be really late.

According to the public financial figures of the DFL, the champion spent 339 million euros on his staff in the 2020 financial year.

That's 114 million euros more than Borussia Dortmund and 321 million euros more than Arminia Bielefeld.

Checked!

We have to regulate the monopoly of FC Bayern Munich!

Not to harm him, but to save the Bundesliga!