How Bayer Leverkusen ended Bayern Munich’s Bundesliga dominance

For the first time in their history, Bayer Leverkusen are Bundesliga champions.

This is the club that was once branded ‘Neverkusen’ thanks to four second-place finishes in the space of six seasons between 1996 and 2002, the latter year also seeing them lose the Champions League final against Real Madrid in a famous contest at Hampden Park.

It is an incredibly proud moment for Leverkusen, the club and the city, and testament to the work done by the sporting department and head coach Xabi Alonso.

Significant, too, is what it means for German football as a whole. No club other than Bayern Munich had been crowned Bundesliga champions since 2012 in an unprecedented reign of dominance. That streak of successive national titles is now over at 11, with hope of ushering in a newly competitive era after more than a decade of monopolisation.

Bayern’s dreadful campaign has arguably not even been a contributory factor, with Leverkusen laying down one of the greatest-ever Bundesliga campaigns. The cracks in the Munich machine were starting to show in 2022, claiming last year’s title with only 71 points, Germany’s lowest winning tally since 2009/10. But no one was there to take advantage.

Leverkusen dramatically changed that in 2023/24, leaving a sorry Bayern in their wake to wrap up the league with five games still left to play. They have already substantially exceeded Bayern’s 2022/23 tally and are within touching distance of the Bundesliga’s all-time points record – currently 91 set in 2012/13. That record will fall if Leverkusen win just four of their remaining fixtures.

90min takes a look at just how they did it…

The transformative effect that Alonso has had since his appointment in October 2022 has been nothing short of incredible. Leverkusen were in the relegation zone when he arrived, having taken only four points from their opening eight games of the season, but marked Alonso’s first game with a statement 4-0 victory over Schalke and went on to put two significant winning runs together – the first straddling the World Cup break and the second across March and April – to climb to sixth.

That in itself was impressive enough. But Alonso has since kicked Leverkusen onto the next level in what has been his first full season as a senior head coach.

The immediate change when Alonso started work was a switch in formation, moving from the 4-2-3-1 preferred by predecessor…