BERLIN (AFP) - As Bayern Munich continue their march towards a tenth successive Bundesliga title this weekend, the German top-flight has been gripped by a debate about whether to introduce end-of-season play-offs to make the league more exciting.
Julian Nagelsmann’s Bayern are currently nine points clear at the top of the table, a lead they are expected to defend when they travel to minnows Bochum on Saturday.
With the league now facing another year without a serious title race and a decade of dominance from the Bavarian giants, questions are being asked about the possibility of a new format.
On Wednesday, she got some unlikely support from Bayern, the club who would in theory have most to lose from a new format.
“A format with semi-finals and a final would mean more excitement for the fans, so it makes sense to explore these ideas. We’re always open to new suggestions,” Bayern CEO Oliver Kahn told Kicker magazine.
German football decided its champions via a system of regional leagues and national play-offs until the Bundesliga was created in 1963, and smaller European leagues such as the Belgian Pro League have introduced a play-off system in recent decades.
The Bundesliga would be the first major European league to introduce such a format, however, and the suggestion has also been met with scepticism in some quarters.