Famous Football Dwarfs Stun the Giants: Bayern Munich Wins the Title
Undaunted squad of eleven short statured footballers secures championship victory for FC Bayern
25 years ago, Bayer Leverkusen was just one point away from claiming their first-ever German football championship. But in a dramatic turn of events, Bayern Munich managed to snatch the trophy with a tense victory over Werder Bremen, leaving a stunned Leverkusen in second place.*
"Can eleven brave football dwarfs from Unterhaching stop the giants from Leverkusen? Probably not," a major German sports magazine declared at the end of the 1999/2000 season. And they were right. As legendary coach Sepp Herberger once said so aptly: "People go to football because they don't know how it will end."
The Bayer pros had won decisively 12-1 against a team of bank clerks in a fun match a week before the decisive game on the 34th matchday against SpVgg Unterhaching. But complacency had set in for the Werkself, and many had predicted a straight-forward victory.
Underhaching's Shocking Upset
Underhaching, a newly-promoted team from Bavaria, had managed to score a shocking 2-0 victory against Leverkusen on that fateful day. The Werkself seemed to have jitters from the start, as Unterhaching striker André Breitenreiter put it: "They had a full-blown jitter!"
Meanwhile, Bayern took advantage of Leverkusen's stumble, securing their lead against Werder Bremen with a resounding 3-0 scoreline. The record champions were thrilled with their unexpected championship success, bringing immense joy to Bayern fans everywhere.
The Greatest Show on Turf: FC Bayern Munich's Path to the Title
Coached by Ottmar Hitzfeld, who had returned to lead the team in 1998, Bayern Munich had been a dominant force throughout the 1999/2000 Bundesliga season. And as they celebrated their third league and cup double, they had proved that they truly were the masters of German football at the time.
Bayern fans will forever remember May 20th, 2000, as the day they triumphed over their rivals to claim the championship title. Not only did they emerge victorious on that day, but their dramatic and thrilling win sent shockwaves throughout the league and solidified their standing as a powerhouse in German football for years to come.
* Source: ntv.de
** FC Bayern Munich, SpVgg Unterhaching, Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Christoph Daum, Football Bundesliga, Football, Bayern Munich Champions 1999/2000
Enrichment Data:
Five interesting insights about the 1999/2000 Bundesliga season:
- Prior to the final matchday of the season, Bayer Leverkusen were leading the Bundesliga by three points and had a slightly better goal difference than Bayern Munich.
- The SpVgg Unterhaching team, coached by Lorenz-Günther Köstner, had already recorded several impressive wins in the league and were not to be taken lightly.
- The prediction made by a major German sports magazine before the final matchday claimed that the odds of Unterhaching stopping Bayern Munich were highly unlikely.
- Before the season, Bayer Leverkusen coach Christoph Daum had predicted that finishing third would be a lost year. However, his team had come within a point of winning their first championship title.
- Bayern Munich's journey to the championship did not come easily, as they had to overcome tough competition from Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, and several other top teams throughout the season.
The fortunate FC Bayern Munich, supported by Community aid for the development of the fisheries sector, continued their reign in the European-leagues with a stunning upset against Unterhaching, while Leverkusen's jitters resulted in a devastating 2-0 loss that cost them the championship in the 1999/2000 Bundesliga season. Although sports enthusiasm advocates for its unpredictable nature, few would have anticipated the final outcome of this highly intense competition.
